


Breaking Through The Atmosphere

by dinosaursmate



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Angst, Artist Harry, Brief mention of miscarriage in passing, Friends to Lovers, Homesickness, Louis works in recruitment, M/M, Smut, Space AU, Veterinarian Harry, including some lovely made up animals, lots of weird otherworldy stuff, mild homophobia, offscreen death of offscreen characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-04-11 22:58:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 40,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19119418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dinosaursmate/pseuds/dinosaursmate
Summary: ‘Hey bud. I know you’ve been unhappy at the office, and was wondering if you’d consider coming to work over here?’'At the space agency? What the fuck would I do there, Liam?’‘It’s a recruitment job and you’d be trained in the rest. Can’t tell you anymore over text I’m afraid, mate. Let’s go for dinner on Saturday.’---Working in recruitment wasn't exactly Louis' lifelong dream, but his job takes him to a far away planet to help build a new civilisation, and a brand new life for himself.





	Breaking Through The Atmosphere

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Lauren (kingsofeverything) for space-picking this lol and as always big thank you to my dearest Sus (lululawrence) for betaing <3 Annnnnnd the darling Marie (pasmwa) is responsible for the wonderful piece of art <3  
> -  
> Please don't read this if you are under 18.  
> Please make sure you have read the tags.  
> Enjoy!

Louis Tomlinson was his mother’s firstborn. Her first child. Her first  _ son. _

It had been just Louis and his mum against the world for a long time. That was, until she met Mark. When Louis was six, Lottie came along and, suddenly, he had a sister. Then followed Fizzy, and Daisy and Phoebe. When Louis turned twenty-two, his mother was pregnant with two more little babies. 

And then Louis left them all behind.

When he decided to work in recruitment, this wasn’t exactly where he had expected to end up. He had felt a bit like he was settling, taking a dull job in an office instead of something dynamic and exciting. Louis was a restless individual. He didn’t really expect to stay in recruitment for very long. He needed a challenge. It was in his blood.

Liam knew this, of course. He had followed in his father’s footsteps to work for the UK Space Agency, which had surprised nobody. Liam had been raised on space and so it was inevitable that he would become a space nerd. It wasn’t that Louis wasn’t interested in that stuff, but Liam spoke about space so much as they were growing up that Louis had once taped his mouth shut so that they could play FIFA in silence. 

A job offer wasn’t something Louis ever expected from him. He nearly choked on his Corn Flakes when he got the text.

_ ‘Hey bud. I know you’ve been unhappy at the office, and was wondering if you’d consider coming to work over here?’ _

_ ‘At the space agency? What the fuck would I do there, Liam?’ _

_ ‘It’s a recruitment job and you’d be trained in the rest. Can’t tell you anymore over text I’m afraid, mate. Let’s go for dinner on Saturday.’ _

That was when Liam told him that the agency was expanding its colony on another planet. HADLEY 24-C4DR had first been discovered a century ago and it was well known that space agencies and scientists had been painstakingly studying it and trying to create an environment where life could survive. It had been deemed hospitable for a couple of decades and a bunch of scientists had been living there ever since. Liam’s dad had managed interplanetary relations for as long as the department had been a thing, and Louis had always had a low-key worry that his best friend would be shipped off to HADLEY 24-C4DR.

Ironic, really. 

The good thing was that Louis already knew one of his bosses. Liam’s dad, Geoff, had always been good to him and Louis knew he would never have many problems at work with Geoff as one of his managers. 

Louis spent over a year training in his new job role. By the time he was fully trained, he knew more about HADLEY 24-C4DR than he did about his own planet and he was ready to recruit new citizens. He didn’t reckon it would be that hard, really. Who wouldn’t want to live on a brand new planet? Selling the planet to people wouldn’t be the hard part of his job. The hard part would be working out the best people to send for the development of the planet and its community. 

HADLEY 24-C4DR was about a trillion light years away. Liam had been banging on about wormholes for as long as Louis could remember, but Louis had only really listened to the part where Liam said that one day, they might be able to travel through time via wormholes. Skipping through billions of light years into the vast expanse of space wasn’t really on his radar compared to that.

From space, the new planet looked a bit like Earth. It had masses of land and masses of ocean. It had a breathable atmosphere. It had weather and weather patterns. It had moons and a sun. Everybody at NASA had absolutely lost their shit when they discovered it. They became consumed in trying to work out if human life could survive there. 

That wasn’t just for the fun of it. Planet Earth had been dying for centuries. Not only were humans killing the planet, but the sun was getting increasingly hotter and in a few billion years, the planet would become completely inhospitable. Liam told Louis that it was pretty much seen as a given that humans would destroy either the planet or themselves long before that and, for the human race to survive, they would need to inhabit another planet.

HADLEY 24-C4DR seemed like the perfect candidate. It had taken them eighty years, but scientists finally found a way for humans to survive unaided. They had managed to get some Earth plants to survive and grow, and they had discovered which native ones were fit for consumption. They had done the same with Earth and native animals. They had built the bare bones of the very first community. The future looked bright for the human race. The future was HADLEY 24-C4DR. 

Louis found his new job far more interesting than his old one. He watched weekly report vlogs from scientists living over on the planet and it gave him a terrific rush.

When Liam’s dad came to see Louis in his office, he couldn’t have anticipated what he would say. Not in his wildest dreams.

“Can I have a word, Louis?”

“Of course.”

Geoff looked at the clock on the wall. “I’ll make it quick. I know you were about to go home.”

“It’s not a problem, mate. Take a seat.”

Geoff sat opposite Louis and fidgeted in his chair a bit. Louis frowned and looked at him curiously.

“Um… I’m not quite sure how to put this.” Geoff sighed. “How would you feel about relocating?”

“Relocating?” Louis cocked an eyebrow. He had already relocated down to London to work at the space agency. “To where? Swindon? Oxford?”

“No.”

“Don’t tell me you’re sending me to bloody NASA or something.”

“Louis, look. I’ll be blunt. Simon wants a handful of recruiters to work... on location, so to speak.”

Louis’ eyebrows shot up behind his fringe. His heart started to pound. Geoff couldn’t be saying… what Louis thought he was saying?

“Are you saying you want me to move to Hadley?”

“They don’t… call it Hadley…” Geoff swiped at his forehead nervously. “Yes, Simon would like a few of you to relocate. You absolutely have the choice, and it won’t be held against you in any way if you say no.”

Louis shook his head, trying to get his head around it. It took five weeks to get to HADLEY 24-C4DR, and it was dangerous. Travelling through a wormhole to reach the distant planet was risky and there was always the chance they would just… disappear. Blip out of existence. Stretched and torn apart by the mysterious forces of space. No one would come looking for them. And if Louis  _ did _ make it, he would likely never be able to return to Earth.

“If you’re willing to leave everything behind and you’re looking for the ultimate challenge, this is a wonderful opportunity for you. If you’re worried about your family, rest assured that your salary will far exceed what you would need over there.”

Geoff knew how to hit Louis’ every button. His family didn’t struggle as such, but the thought that he could help his family live a comfortable life was a huge plus. He could even help send the kids to university when the time came.

“I assume I am allowed to go away and think it over.”

“Of course, of course. Actually, Simon is scheduling interviews. So, maybe go along and see what he has to say about it.”

Louis raised his eyebrows. “Are you saying I have to interview to go out there?”

“I’ve put you forward, but you know better than anyone that they have a meticulous screening process. Simon wants to vet every candidate carefully in person. You know he can’t help but micromanage.”

Louis shrugged. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll meet with him.”

-

“Okay, here’s the thing.”

Simon was twiddling a pen between his ugly, hairy fingers and Louis tried not to grimace. He had never liked Simon. There was something about him that Louis found repulsive and so he tried to avoid meeting with him at all costs. Of course, it was necessary this time. 

Simon had brought along a colleague who Louis had worked with in the past, which he was grateful for.

“Louis, we have a problem here. People keep telling me you’re good at your job but we have to be very selective with who we send up to Rumah.”

Rumah was the casual name for HADLEY 24-C4DR. Louis mostly used its scientific name, or called it Hadley for short. He knew he needed to break the habit.

“Okay,” Louis replied, trying to stay neutral. “So, what’s the problem?”

“Don’t take offence, but it seems counterproductive to the longevity of Rumah’s population to send up someone who is gay.”

The word  _ gay _ rang out through the room as Simon fell silent and blinked at Louis expectedly. Louis turned to look at Simon’s colleague, who was staring down at his paperwork awkwardly.

“With all due respect, sir, I really do not see why my sexuality would be an issue here.”

Louis’ heart was pounding. He could hear his rabbiting pulse thundering in his ears and he took a deep breath. He couldn’t afford to lose his rag. Not today.

“It’s a simple matter of reproduction, Louis. If you are unwilling to contribute to the development of the population, then it gets a bit tricky.”

Louis scoffed without really meaning to. “My sexual orientation and my ability or even  _ willingness _ to reproduce are not mutually exclusive.”

Simon remained stoical. “Yes, well. I’d hate to think you would feel forced into doing something you felt uncomfortable doing.”

“If I move over there, my entire life will be uncomfortable. I know what I’m getting myself into, Mr. Cowell, I know what would be expected of me.”

Simon sighed, loud and laborious. Louis couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“Sir,” Simon’s colleague said to him quietly. “Louis really is the best of all the team members who are willing to go, and he works so well with all of the other candidates.”

Louis had the grace to at least try not to smile.

-

He was moving. To another fucking planet.

Forever.

He went through countless medical and fitness tests, training, classes… the whole process started to become mind-numbing to him and every time he wondered if it was worth it, he remembered the sad faces of his family the day they found out he would be leaving forever. He never wanted that to be in vain.

Saying goodbye was the worst thing Louis had ever done. His sisters and mother wouldn’t stop crying, and the younger twins looked absolutely distraught. Louis knew he was doing for them, all of them. But walking away was just horrible. 

As he wrapped his life up, he said goodbye to each and every one of his friends, one by one, and every single one hurt just as much as the last. Outside of his family, there was one that hurt far more than any others.

“I can’t believe you’re going,” Liam said sadly. “And leaving me behind!”

“I’m gonna email you  _ all _ the time,” Louis promised. “And I want every detail of your life. Every detail! I don’t care how mundane.”

Liam smiled and swore that he would. Louis would never be able to hug Liam ever again. Liam was his comfort blanket, his teddy bear. Whenever he felt sad or things were going wrong, a cuddle from Liam was all he needed. He would never again have to put up with the rancid stench of Liam after he had been to the gym. Louis would even miss that, because it was  _ Liam.  _ His Liam.

Louis lost track of how many times he cried on the journey over. He had never felt so alone. He had two colleagues with him and a bunch of scientists and other space agency personnel, but no one that  _ knew _ him. Not properly. 

There were days on end that he sat on the observation deck and just… stared. Stared at his home planet as it got smaller and smaller. Watched with mild interest as they passed by Mars and headed towards Jupiter, before swinging dramatically upwards and making their way towards the wormhole. Watched with an intense interest as they started to come towards it, staring in absolute terror as it sucked in everything in its path with such force that Louis was absolutely certain they wouldn’t survive.

They were all sedated for that most dangerous part of the journey. They were told that it was to prevent their bodies and minds becoming too stressed, but Louis reckoned it was so that, if they die, they wouldn’t know anything about it. It would be kinder that way.

They made it, of course they did, and when Louis woke, he couldn’t believe what he saw. A very much unfamiliar solar system met him at the observation deck. Spectacular galaxies, strange moons and such colourful planets that made Louis gasp out loud. He didn’t know anything about these planets in his new solar system. They passed fairly close to a huge, blue planet with stunning rings around it and, when the deck’s telescope became free, Louis was able to catch a glance of a planet with strange green oceans and almost no land. 

When they arrived on Rumah, a hero’s welcome awaited them. Louis was too disorientated to truly take it in. He needed to go through medicals before he was released and it was probably the worst part of the whole journey, if he was honest.

Still, when he was released, he was taken to his new flat and he collapsed on the bed and slept for two days. They were given a week to adjust. Space lag was no laughing matter.

“How are you feeling?” Louis’ new boss, Dr. Malik, asked, peering over the top of his glasses. “You look alright.”

“I think I am, yeah.” He frowned and rubbed his stomach. “I feel queasy all the time, though.”

“I won’t lie to you, Louis, your body is going to go into complete and utter panic mode,” Dr. Malik replied casually. How many people had he had this conversation with? “But in a few months, it’ll feel like home. You feeling short of breath?”

“At times.”

“You will adjust to the atmospheric shift. Just let me or one of the medical doctors know if anything happens to worry you. Any weird lumps or bumps, headache, if you can’t shit… let us know.”

Louis was so surprised that he laughed out loud.

-

At least once he was there and settled, he was able to throw himself into work. He and his colleagues were taken on tours to places they had only seen on screen. The hot spring pools that formed a large circle which inhabitants used to determine the boundary of the town. The farm containing fifty Kopu, a cow-like creature the size of a domestic cat that was used to produce milk. The small hospital that boasted a staff of three. 

It was fascinating, but unsettling. The planet was much like Earth in plenty of ways, but it was… wrong. Just slightly off. Like a dream world. Louis and his colleagues had to market it to other humans and convince them to emigrate, and Louis had to try and find a way to do that convincingly. They would screen each candidate carefully and only bring over highly skilled individuals that were vital to the development of the planet and its new people. It was kind of weird to Louis that he had got himself a place on the planet, if he was honest. He felt a bit like a fraud who had slipped through the cracks.

Louis and the recruitment team were given a month to fully settle in before properly getting to work. Emigrating was a big ask of people, so the incentives were huge. Special benefits for those left behind. A shorter working day (days on Rumah were just twenty hours). Incredible housing facilities. Louis knew that they would be absolutely overwhelmed with applications and was grateful that he and his colleagues would receive somewhat of a shortlist to work with. 

Louis’ home was on the first floor of a block of flats built for ‘society’ staff. Society staff were those whose jobs entailed preparing and enhancing the population. On the other side of town, the scientists and other space specialists lived in their own block. 

“I can’t believe we’re not allowed cigarettes,” Louis’ colleague, Josie, said as they sat around the hot spring in their communal garden. “I’m craving a ciggie like mad.”

“At least it forces us to give up. No chance of relapse.”

Josie scoffed. “I suppose.”

“I’ve got a headache again,” Louis grumbled. 

“Mm, Niall told me that could happen because of the change in pressure and gravity, and all that. Even the subtle changes can send your body haywire, which is why they make sure we are at peak health. I haven’t had a period since we left Earth.”

“God. Hope you’re not pregnant. That would be awkward.”

“Obviously I’m not. That would most definitely have shown up on those in depth, horribly invasive medicals they did on us.”

Louis smirked. “Unless Josie Jr. was conceived on the ship.”

“Stop it!”

Louis giggled to himself quietly and sighed. “Who’s Niall, anyway? The father of your baby?”

Josie rolled her eyes. “Oh, he’s the doctor. I went and had a look around the hospital yesterday. Rumour has it, I’ll be in charge of recruiting for the emergency services and care sectors.”

“Where did you hear that?!”

“Just about,” she replied cryptically. “I heard you’ll be in charge of creatives.”

“Creatives? Cool. Like what? Surely they’re not interested in, like, pop stars and actors.”

“Well, if we have a thousand more people come over, they’ll need entertaining. It’ll probably be more like classical musicians and photographers, or something. Newsreaders?”

“Is a newsreader classed as a creative?”

Once Josie went to bed, Louis stayed behind and looked up at the stars. Louis once had this boyfriend who travelled constantly for work. Louis was always a sucker for the whole, ‘we’re looking at the same moon’ crap. It was sometimes the only thing that got him through the lonely nights.

He had no such comfort, now. He was looking up at two moons, and knew that there was another one in the sky behind him. His family were in another solar system, another universe, a trillion light years away. There was no way for them to even comprehend each other anymore. There was no way to even voice or video call each other. They could leave the occasional video message but it would take weeks to reach its destination.

That was also true of the applications. By the time they arrived, Louis had been living on Rumah for nearly three months. He was extremely grateful to have some proper, familiar work to do, and to watch video testimonies of people still living on Earth. 

_ “I think I would be a wonderful addition to Rumah as I am the very best pianist in my-” _

_ “You must need opera singers up there! Lucky for you, I’m very interested, and-” _

_ “Ice sculptures are very important in our culture and to bring our culture to a new civilisation is vital-” _

Louis broke for lunch after hours of application watching and went to sit outside. He ate his cheese sandwich and stared into the distance, across to the building site where scientists and astronauts were slowly building a small block of flats for the next batch of emigrants. Louis knew the first shipful of civilians would be builders. The scientists didn’t have the knowledge, strength, or time to build the kind of structures Rumah needed.

Louis knew - and, if he was honest, it was fair enough - that his creatives would likely be on the last ship over. Well, as needed as they were, they were right about at the bottom of everybody’s priority list. Despite that, he was being pressured to start making decisions. He had forty slots and, a week in, he hadn’t chosen a single person.

_ “Um. I’m a painter. Like, an artist, not a decorator. I’m actually a veterinarian by profession, but I’ve been winning a lot of awards for my paintings and selling quite a few so I had been thinking of doing it full time, which is a dream come true. Saying that, I’m always after new and bigger challenges and nothing is bigger than moving to a new planet.” _

This fellow had some of his paintings in the shot with him and they caught Louis’ eye. They were rich in colour and although they were landscapes, they touched Louis’ heart somewhat. He didn’t know anything about art - had no idea how he was supposed to pick an artist - but he liked this guy’s paintings. Besides, he was a vet. Multiskilled people would always be a plus. 

Louis put his very first name onto his  _ yes _ pile and started to compose a new email, into which he copied the relevant colleagues. 

_ Mr. Styles, _

_ Upon review of your application, I am delighted to invite you to London to meet with my colleagues. I am personally recommending you for acceptance into our programme, but those who interview you in the flesh will be able to put forward their own recommendations.  _

_ If you are selected, I urge you not to be flippant with your decision. It is incredibly hard work, and the biggest life change open to our generation. That being said, nothing can prepare you for how wonderful and satisfying it is to have a hand in starting up a new world. _

_ Good luck with your interview. I’m a big fan of your work and I hope you will be joining us over here on Rumah soon. _

_ Regards, _

_ Louis Tomlinson  _

_ HADLEY 24-C4DR Marketing and Recruitment department _

_ - _

_ Mr Tomlinson, _

_ Thank you for your email. I am ecstatic that my application not only reached you, but impressed you. I have arranged a meeting for next week with your colleagues, but I really wanted to reach out to say thank you personally, not only for your consideration, but your compliment. If I make it over to Rumah, I’ll be sure to dedicate a painting to you. _

_ I really hope to meet you soon, in person. _

_ Regards, _

_ Harry Styles. Planet Earth. Painter of the distance. _

Louis laughed softly. Harry’s email had reached him three weeks after he sent his own initial message, which had to be some kind of record. Harry’s interview had most likely been and gone, and Louis was eager to know what the outcome was. He could find out in five minutes, or he could find out in a week. Either way, he had contacted all forty of his selected applicants and so Harry wasn’t the only one he was awaiting news on.

Then the news came. Thirty-five of his applicants were both approved and willing, subject to medical testing. The best part about it was that out of all his colleagues in the field, he had the most approved applicants. 

And they were estimated to be travelling to Rumah in approximately seven years’ time. 

_ Mr. Tomlinson, _

_ I have just received the incredible news that your colleagues have approved me! _

_ Not to go into overkill, but thank you once again for the opportunity you have been instrumental in giving to me. I can only hope, now, that I pass my medical exam. I hear they can be quite gruelling.  _

_ I hope that once I join you on Rumah, you will not be disappointed or regretful in your choice. I’ll be very excited to get going. _

_ Take care, _

_ Harry.  _

Louis sighed and resolved to reply later. He knew that once his successful applicants made it over to Rumah, he would be in charge of settling them in and mentoring them. But what the hell was he supposed to do for the next seven years?

“Keep marketing, and keep recruiting,” their boss, Dr. Malik, told the team in a meeting. “The process takes time, yes, but we need to have candidates ready to go. And on that note, we need to discuss everybody’s selections. There are concerns about the lack of diversity.”

“Oh?” Josie said, narrowing her eyes. 

“It is thought, by some, that overall the new emigrants are too white. We really want to bring as much diversity to Rumah as we can, it just won’t do to have such a… white planet.”

Louis looked at Josie, who was frowning. Both of her parents were black African immigrants, who moved to the UK not long before she was born. She rested her chin on her palm and sighed.

“Sir, with all due respect, our options were limited. In my opinion, this is a conversation that needs to take place on Earth. I would go as far as to say that ninety-nine percent of the candidates I was sent were white.” She shrugged. “Or maybe we need a new marketing strategy. Encourage more people of colour to apply. Maybe the advertising locations need to be rethought.”

“Okay,” Dr. Malik said, nodding thoughtfully. 

“Civilisation on this planet was founded by an Indonesian man,” Louis reminded the table. “Are they marketing to Indonesia?”

_ Rumah _ was the Indonesian word for ‘home’. The first man to live on the planet was Robert Wijaya and he affectionately dubbed HADLEY 24-C4DR as  _ home.  _ Wijaya was seen as the creator of civilisation on Rumah and, after his death, a memorial was set up in the very centre of the town. It was one of the first sights Louis had seen when he first arrived.

“The marketing has very much been targeted to English speakers so far,” Dr. Malik informed them.

“Why?” Louis asked.

Dr. Malik rubbed his forehead. “Simpler. Easier to communicate if everybody speaks the same language.”

“That’s literal bullshit.” Louis scoffed before widening his eyes. “Sir.”

“I know,” Dr. Malik said. “I’m going to see what I can do. This is a barrier that will be keeping some of the best minds on Earth from our grasp.”

Louis came out of the meeting, thinking about home. Earth. The thing was, human beings were destroying the Earth. Scientists wanted to prevent the same thing from happening to Rumah, but humans were creatures of habit. How would the new population cope without their aerosols, or plastic bottles, or cigarettes? How could they prevent greed and selfishness taking hold of human nature and destroying everything they were trying so hard to create?

Louis sat at the base of the Wijaya memorial and got lost in thought. They weren’t creating a new civilisation, or a new culture. They were recreating Earth, and in a thousand years, people would probably destroy it. Maybe it was for the best. Maybe human civilisation didn’t deserve to survive.

-

_ Harry, _

_ I hope everything is going well. I trust your medicals will have started by the time this reaches you. I hope you survive them! They are very in depth, and I presume you will be assessed annually until your time comes to make the trip over. You’ll be fitter than a butcher’s dog by the time you arrive! _

_ I wanted to mention that I’m very happy to be talking to someone from Cheshire. I’m from Yorkshire and I kind of fancy that I’m somehow connected to home by talking to you. Send up a thought for my family tonight. I left for their benefit, but I think my mum will be struggling without her firstborn, and my six siblings without their big brother. I’m sure you’re dreading leaving your family, too. Just remember that although your leaving will be unbelievably difficult for them, the benefits will be enormous.  _

_ Let me know how your preparation is going. I’m going to make all of you a little video but don’t hold your breath. Videos take even longer than emails. _

_ Regards, _

_ Louis Tomlinson _

_ - _

One hundred structural engineers, architects, builders and other related experts touched down on Rumah nearly a year after Louis arrived. The one structural engineer who had been working on Rumah up until this point finally took a well-earned break. 

They were the first batch of ‘civilians’. They had been determined before Louis and his colleagues had even agreed to emigrate. Within a week, new housing was starting to take shape. Once it was close to being complete, the next batch of civilians would start their journey. They would be Josie’s emergency and vital services. After that would probably be teachers. 

There were few children on Rumah. Scientists weren’t keen on pregnancies taking place until they could properly study the effects of the different atmosphere, gravitational pull, bacteria, magnetic fields… there was a lot to take into account, and nobody knew if a number of miscarriages suffered by the wife of one the scientists in the years following their emigration was due to these disturbances. It could have been the stress of the move, or a medical issue she would’ve suffered even on Earth.

It was kind of frightening how much was unknown, but Louis comforted himself by the thought that the unknown was what made it exciting.

_ Louis, _

_ Your video was wonderful! How lovely to put a face and voice to your words (and hear you retaining a Yorkshire accent even on Rumah). I loved the hot springs and the purple landscape outside of the town. I can’t wait to join you! _

_ The animals freak me out a bit, I won’t lie. And that is coming from a vet! I might not be able to resist learning all about them. Do you use the Kopu for meat? I get the impression they don’t taste like beef. I suppose it’s rather hard to be vegan over there. You mentioned agriculture was rapidly expanding but I suppose it would be difficult to get all the nutrients you need. _

_ You mentioned the temperature tends to stay the same year-round in the town. I had better pack a few jumpers, then. I’ll also bring an iPod full of music. I’ll be able to charge it, right? _

_ Enough of the little things. I feel like a fraud, being chosen to come over to paint a few pictures. But it seems as though I’ll have some incredible landscapes to paint! _

_ Anyway, I’m rambling, and Tiddles the cat is not going to operate on herself. Take care, Louis.  _

_ Harry x _

_ P.S: I passed my medical, possibly by the skin of my teeth. I have been given a complimentary gym membership so I suppose I show potential but I can’t get complacent. I must admit, too, that I’m rather clumsy. They’re sending me to special classes to improve my mindfulness and keep me from distraction. My coordination and concentration need serious work, I suppose. _

-

The change on Rumah was astounding. Louis felt like buildings were popping up all over the place, and these buildings were sturdy and safe. The weather on Rumah was fairly stable, but if a bad storm hit, a lot of the older buildings would be destroyed. That would mean Louis’ office would be gone in a heartbeat. A new architect urged the scientists to consider building downwards and create safe places for them to secure their irreplaceable, vital research. 

The new block of flats were nearly finished, and so preparations were to be made for Josie’s emigraters. Everybody was always excited whenever a new batch of people were expected. As everybody saw with the builders, a new batch of people could mean huge changes for the planet. Excitement bubbled through the people of Rumah, and Louis was looking forward to it, too. He liked Josie and his other colleagues, but he was yet to find someone he felt he could truly call a friend.

He missed Liam. A lot. Not only did he miss that warm, fuzzy feeling of being around someone you love, he missed the cuddles. He missed talking to someone who knew him intimately, and he missed getting high with Liam and staring up at the night sky. Little did he know when Liam babbled about space, that he would be here today.

He couldn’t even bring himself to miss having someone to kiss or hold close in the night. Louis knew the chances of that were unlikely. For crying out loud, he was on a distant planet with mere hundreds of other people. There were no gay clubs, no dating apps on Rumah. Indeed, if Simon bloody Cowell got his way, there would be no other gay people on Rumah at all.

Louis stripped down to his boxers and got into the pool in the garden. The hot spring was the perfect bath temperature, he reckoned. He had a bathtub in his flat, but he was feeling claustrophobic indoors. He needed to stare up at the stars.

The thing about working in the space industry was realising how tiny and insignificant you really were. As Louis stared out into the abyss, he no longer felt claustrophobic. Their little garden was ringed by flats but outside of that, the town laid to the left, and to the right… nothing. The outer boundary was a few hundred metres away, and nobody was allowed to go beyond without authorisation. Beyond the boundary was deemed as unsafe territory. Geoscientists were working out there, and every now and then the boundary was moved out a few metres but there was so much of the planet that was untouched, unchecked, and that was too huge for Louis to even comprehend.

He jumped out of the spring, wrapped a towel around himself and went inside.

_ Harry, _

_ The accents here are so varied! I think it will take a couple of Rumah-born generations for the planet to start to find an accent of its own. There will probably be many, many settlements by then so they might have their own accents. Who knows?! We won’t live to see it but doesn’t it feel good to be a part of it all? _

_ Kopu aren’t good for meat. Someone once said they taste a bit like tougher horsemeat. We did successfully bring chickens over, but unfortunately the cow wouldn’t fit on the ship. (That’s a joke, they grew the chickens in the lab. Can you imagine having a chicken running around a bloody spaceship?)  _

_ We’re getting our next batch of civilians soon. Doctors and firefighters and that kind of thing. It’s a special occasion around here, when we get new people. The population is expanding and it’s an exciting time. You won’t believe it, when you arrive and everybody treats you like a celebrity. Haha! _

_ We’re simple out here, but fully functional. Electricity is no problem - the place is covered in solar panels and energy farms - but obviously things like television are out of the question. Internet is basic, really basic but we get by. Think carefully about what you bring because you’ll only be allowed a certain amount and it needs to last you a lifetime. _

_ Keep working on that clumsiness, won’t you? You don’t want to trip and fall out of the atmosphere. It’s a real problem we’ve had, we’ve unfortunately lost three scientists that way.  _

_ Take care and work hard! :) _

_ Louis _

-

_ Louis, _

_ Fucking hell! Three scientists just tripped out of the atmosphere?! Did you lose them? I’m so sorry. I’ll have to be extra careful. That’s so scary. _

_ I actually think living on a planet with limited internet kind of sounds like heaven.  _

_ So are Kopu just for milk? Are you planning on bringing over any other species? I’ll happily eat chicken forever, mind you. And eggs! I suppose you have flour and all that. I’d love to bake some cakes. _

_ I have to run but can’t wait to see you soon. Just six years to go!! ;) _

_ Harry x  _

_ - _

_ Harry! _

_ Hahaha the scientists in the atmosphere thing was a little joke :P You Earthlings will believe anything about outer space! _

_ Kopu are only used for dairy products, yes, but since they’re so small some people keep them as pets. I’m thinking of getting one! We’re encouraged to, to put less strain on the dairy farmers by producing our own milk. We do mostly eat chicken, meat-wise, but there are some native species which some people (not me) are trying out. There’s a kind of bird thingy that people are trying to farm because it tastes okay. Hopefully they find a red meat source soon. I need a good steak! If not, they might have to bring cow DNA over. Really, it’s amazing the kind of stuff they can do. Science is amazing! _

_ I hope you’re a good baker. It’s been a long time since I had a good cake! We have a small cocoa farm here so you can make me a lovely chocolate cake to go alongside the gorgeous painting you’re gonna do for me :) _

_ I’d better be off to check no scientists have tripped into the atmosphere. _

_ L x _

_ - _

Louis found himself increasingly excited to hear from Harry, but he had to wait weeks at a time and when it ticked over to a month since his last email, Louis was growing impatient. He hoped he hadn’t offended Harry with his teasing, but he knew that it was likely just the crappy internet conking out. Louis didn’t even understand how the internet worked out here. They were in a completely different solar system to Earth. There could be one million galaxies between Earth and Rumah and yet somehow, it worked. Maybe it could travel through the wormhole, too, or it bounced off of hundreds of satellites until it was picked up. Who knew.

Louis’ head hurt when he thought about it. He was a recruiter, not a space expert. He wasn’t even willing to bother asking someone because he knew he would never understand.

It was an uncharacteristically warm morning. The temperature didn’t tend to deviate very much from the average of 17c, but today it was 22c, the warmest it had been since Louis had arrived. He wore a suit - he always wore a suit to arrival events - but he kept removing his jacket and putting it back on as his body temperature fluctuated. He wasn’t used to this anymore.

He settled for removing his tie, opening the neck of his shirt and keeping his jacket on. 

“What’s with you?” Josie scoffed. “You seem nervous. Why are you nervous? I’m the one who should be nervous!”

“You okay?” Louis laughed. “I’m not nervous. Just… can’t decide whether I’m hot or cold. Don’t be nervous. You’re gonna do great. Look, here they come!”

In the distance, the ship made its final approach and slowed as it lowered down into its dock. The ship was huge, the size of a small cruise ship. It could take over one hundred passengers in theory, but they never filled it. Instead, they filled every spare corner with cargo and crew. 

“Will you help me?” Josie said nervously, wiping her clammy palms on her trousers. “If I get overwhelmed with these people, will you help?”

“Of course I will, love,” Louis soothed. “You’ll be fine though, I promise.”

The wait was agonising for Josie but when everybody started piling off the ship, Josie stared down to the walkway intently, muttering names under her breath. She faltered on a couple, but some of these people were crew or handlers anyway. The crew were required to spend a week on land before making the return journey, due to the stresses of the journey on their body. 

The excitement in the atmosphere rubbed off on Louis somewhat. Seeing the doctors and the dentists and the firefighters arrive was a special event in itself. Niall Horan had been the only doctor on the planet and he had had to double as a dentist at times. Everyone felt that little bit safer knowing that they had more people to look after them, highly qualified in their specific field.

Louis put his hand over his mouth to cough but just kind of spluttered as he gazed down at the walkway. Surely not.

“What?” Josie asked.

“What…” Louis shook his head and turned on his heel. He quickly made his way all the way down to the holding room he knew the new citizens would be held in, and he burst into the room.

There was a low hum of conversation filling the room and Louis stood on his tiptoes to look around. There he was, leaning against the opposite wall, having a chat with Dr. Malik. Louis quickly crossed the room and as he approached, Dr. Malik spotted him.

“Ah, Louis! I was just about to come and find you. I suppose you’re wondering what Harry is doing here.”

Louis made eye contact with Harry, who broke into a grin.

“A bit.”

“Well, unfortunately, Josie’s vet got kicked by a Clydesdale on her last day of work. There was absolutely no way she could make the journey after that. She’ll likely come at a later date, but in the meantime, we needed a vet.”

“I agreed to fill in until poor Diane can make it over,” Harry added. “When she gets here, I’ll switch professions.”

“Mm, I see.” Louis glanced at Harry before looking back to Dr. Malik. “I’m not sure it’s a good fit. Harry is scared of the Kopu. Send him back.”

“Shut up,” Harry murmured and giggled.

Dr. Malik smiled at them both before heading off to talk Josie through the change of plan. As soon as he was out of sight, Louis turned to face Harry fully. It was strange to see him in front of him, a real, breathing person. Not a face through a pixelated screen.

“It’s so good to see you,” Harry said.

Louis nodded before sighing and, before he could overthink it, he opened his arms wide and pulled Harry into a hug.

“You too!” He giggled softly into Harry’s shoulder. “I didn’t think I’d meet you for years and years, yet.”

“I know.” Harry pulled away, still grinning. “Um, will you be my friend?”

Louis laughed delightedly.

“Yes! Of course!” He patted Harry on the back. “Josie will be your supervisor, of course, but anything else you need, I’ll be about. I’m happy you’re here, to be honest. My downtime can get rather lonely.”

“You don’t have any friends?”

Louis frowned. “It’s not that, exactly. A lot of people here are very serious, you know, very involved. I suppose for a lot of these people, it’s like living at work and never being able to leave.”

“So, you’re looking to cut loose.”

Louis smirked. “Not exactly. But… it’s nice to have a ready-made friend come off that ship.”

Harry just beamed in response.

-

After what felt like a million briefings and debriefs and all sorts, Harry was finally free to roam about and explore Rumah. Louis, of course, was happy to show him around. They would get started tomorrow and Harry would be Josie’s charge but for now, he was free to be Louis’ friend.

“Us civilians don’t have means of travel, really. There are a few electric cars about for official business, but all other travel is done on foot. They say that as the town and sanctioned land is expanded, they’ll probably manufacture some bikes for us.”

Harry nodded thoughtfully. He had been quiet since they set out on their little tour, which unnerved Louis. From the tone of Harry’s emails and his application video, he had felt like the kind of person who liked to talk. Louis reckoned he was overwhelmed. He was quite familiar with that feeling. It really was a lot to take in.

“Is it true the other side of the planet has a lot of volcanoes?”

“Yeah. Not many people have been there yet. They’ve flown over but nobody’s quite sure how safe it is on the ground.”

“Mm. I hope we get to explore a lot more of the planet in our lifetime.”

Louis smiled. “I think we will.”

Louis took him to his flat and showed him around. They headed up to the roof of the building where they could look out over the border.

“They move the boundary back every now and then. They’re trying their best to make more space for us. Of course, the density of the population isn’t very big but the more space we have, the more people we can bring over.”

“And the more development that can take place.”

“Exactly!” Louis nodded, pleased. “Now, they will have stocked your fridge and cupboards, but how about I make you dinner? You’ve had a long journey and it’ll take you a while to work out how to cook anything half decent.”

“Thanks!”

Louis cooked him chicken breast stuffed with Kopu cheese. On Earth, he would have wrapped it with parma ham but he had to settle for phoku leaves, which were a bit like spinach but differently shaped and lighter in colour. He wilted some leaves and wrapped them around the chicken breast, popping some on the side next to the homemade mash. Louis thanked God (and the scientists) every day for the fact that potatoes were brought over.

“They brought over the essentials, you know, rice, wheat, potatoes. If we couldn’t find a native carb to live off of, these staples would always feed us. We could eat Kopu if we absolutely had to. And they had already identified dozens of plants that were fit for consumption.”

“I feel so fortunate to live in this generation,” Harry replied in awe, taking a little too long to cut into his chicken. “To witness this colonisation taking place, and to be a part of it, too, it’s just…”

Harry shook his head with a smile as he finally popped a chunk of chicken into his mouth and chewed.

“Well?”

Harry’s face didn’t immediately contort in disgust, so Louis considered that a small victory. “The chicken’s kind of a weird texture. Not bad weird, but different. And the cheese is nice. Crumbly.”

“They’re trying to find a way to make something that tastes and behaves like cheddar.” Louis frowned at his plate. “I have a lot of thoughts about trying to emulate everything on Earth.”

Harry looked at him for a few seconds before shrugging. “I guess it somewhat defeats the object.”

“Right?” Louis scoffed. “We’ll destroy this planet before we’ve had chance to establish ourselves.”

“Well, I suppose if it makes it easier, it’s okay to get a little help from home. They’re not relying entirely on Earth. Look at the Kopu. If they wanted to make it easy, they would’ve just brought over a cow. A cow would provide milk, and meat, and leather. It would make sense.”

Louis smirked softly. “I’m not sure that growing a cow in a test tube is the ‘easy’ way.”

They finished their meal and Louis walked Harry across town to the newest block of flats, where he was to live. Louis was a little jealous. The difference in the building work was clear and Harry’s new home looked a bit more like a real flat than Louis’. Plug sockets in every room was a luxury. Louis had one in his entire flat. Harry’s flat likely had a more complex plumbing system, too. If Louis wanted a bath, he usually fetched water from the hot spring. Everyone in his block had a shower with hot water, but they shared a tank so whoever woke up first tended to get all the hot water. Louis sometimes washed at the spring with just a jug for pouring water on himself.

It was simple, but Louis rather enjoyed it, now that he was thinking of it.

“Thank you for a lovely first day,” Harry said to Louis. “Thank you for being a friend.”

“You’re welcome. And if you need anything, you’ll have a phone around here somewhere. My number’s 062412. That’s my department number - Society’s 06 - followed by my date and month of birth.”

“Christmas Eve?”

“Yep.”

“Alright, thanks. Mine’s first of February. What’s my department number? I’ll be medical, right? Not creative?”

“Yeah, civilian medical. 43, if I remember correctly.”

“So, 43, 01, 02?”

“Exactly. Anyway, your number should be listed on your phone. And Josie’s will be there, too. Good luck for your first day, tomorrow.”

-

It was odd not to have Josie in the office. She was probably at the hospital with her recruits, showing them round and orienting them to their new workplace.

Louis was jealous. He wished he had something to get his teeth stuck into. And as happy as he was that Harry was here six years earlier than originally intended, he was disappointed that it wasn’t him that got to mentor Harry. Still, he was tasked with finding a new batch of creatives. This lot would probably make it over to Rumah in a mere ten years.

He made it to his weekly meeting with Dr. Malik, still feeling weird about Josie not being around.

“The latest news from up top is that the next ship that comes over will be staying,” Dr. Malik read from his notes over the top of his glasses. “They’re worried to stress it much further, so they’ll fit it out with things that will be of use to us and we’ll move it out of the station to somewhere else. We’ll use it as a hub, you know, the gym and the library, and they’ll fit a swimming pool. There’s even the small theatre space, so you might be required to recruit some singers and actors, Louis.”

Louis broke into a grin. “Great. I have some put aside, actually.”

“Mm, well. We’ll see how long they take to bring them out.”

Louis scoffed. “Right. They’ll be retired by the time we’re ready for them.”

“Princess will be docking for good next year sometime,” Dr. Malik said. “Likely bringing over Dave’s recruits.”

“Princess?”

“Every ship has a name, Mr. Tomlinson,” Dr. Malik said with mild exasperation. 

Dave’s recruits would be chefs. They weren’t only important to the restaurants that were being built, but they would work with the nutritionists to find more native plants and animals that were fit for consumption. 

“...And I think that’s all for now. Why don’t you join Josie at the hospital? See if she needs any help. Who knows? You might learn something.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Louis jogged over to the hospital and located Josie. She was in the operating room, chatting to all her recruits. Harry was trailing at the back, looking overwhelmed and a little lost.

“Hiya,” Louis said quietly as he slipped into the room.

“Hi!” Harry smiled. “Oh, I’m so overwhelmed. I don’t think most of this applies to me.”

“Have you met Lucie yet?”

“Who’s Lucie?”

Louis scoffed and rounded the small crowd to approach Josie.

“Jose, Harry’s a bit lost. Am I alright to whisk him off to meet Lucie?”

“Yes,” Josie said with a sigh. “Thank you.”

Louis returned to Harry’s side. “Come with me.”

They walked out of the hospital and crossed a small garden to a research lab. Through the window, Louis could see the flash of platinum blonde hair and he smiled to himself.

“So, who’s Lucie?” Harry whispered.

“She’s been researching the native wildlife for a decade. She’ll be very happy to see you. Along with our main Doctor, Niall Horan, she’s been responsible for trying to look after any animals that need medical attention, but they’ve not been able to do as good a job as they would’ve liked. Besides, she’ll be able to do far more of her actual job with you here to look after the animals.”

“Hmm.”

“Have you met Niall?”

“Very briefly, this morning.”

“Good. Well, Lucie is very nice. Which is lucky, because she’ll likely be the main person training you.”

They headed inside the lab, and Lucie brightened when she saw her visitors. Louis guessed it got rather lonely in the lab.

“Louis, hi!”

“Lucie, this is Harry. Your long-awaited vet.”

“Wonderful!” Lucie shook Harry’s hand. “I can’t wait to get started.”

Lucie wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. She looked so effortlessly pretty, not an easy feat in a lab coat and safety glasses. Louis glanced at Harry.

“You’re from England?” Harry asked.

“Yeah,” Lucie replied. “From Essex.”

“Cool!” Harry beamed and looked at Louis. “I thought this planet would be full of Americans.”

“Haha! It is. They’re all just tucked away.”

Louis sat quietly as Lucie showed Harry diagram after diagram of the anatomy of Kopu and when she made to move on to another native animal, Louis intercepted.

“One at a time, Luce. He hasn’t even met any Kopu yet. Don’t freak him out with the Shukahs.”

Harry turned to look at Louis. “The what?”

“I’m gonna take him over to see Jesy,” Louis told Lucie, ignoring Harry. “Start him off a bit easier.”

“See you later,” Lucie said, sounding a little disappointed that her visitors were leaving already. 

“So,” Harry said. “What’s a Shew-kar?”

“Not Shew-kar. Shuh-kah. It’s a… well. You’ll see. They’re a hooved mammal that was found in the mountains a few miles over the approved border. Our main farmer, Jesy Nelson, is the best. She is working with the nutritionists. The Shukah was grazing on the mountains and they think that something in the grass was poisonous because their meat is no good, but the nutritionists reckon that with a cleaner diet, they could become fit for consumption. Other than the poison, their meat is lean and tasty, or so I’m told. But it gives everybody the shits.”

Harry snorted with laughter. “I won’t volunteer to be a taster then.”

“Apparently, it’s unlike any meat on Earth, but they did tell me it has a lovely buttery taste to it.”

As they approached Jesy’s farm, Louis spotted a huddle of Shukahs by the outer fence. He knew Harry had to see them to understand what they were. The best way Louis could describe them would be to say they sort of looked like a cross between a deer and a horse, but even that didn’t feel adequate. Louis knew the moment Harry had spotted them, because his pace slowed and he was breathing heavily.

“Is that them?” Harry whispered in awe. “Are they dangerous?”

Louis shrugged. “They probably could be if they wanted to be, but they’re quite lazy and slow. They don’t seem too bothered by humans. They’re not gonna uprise and push back against the invasion of their planet, or anything.”

“Clearly.” Harry approached the fence and stuck his hand out for the animal to sniff. The Shukah’s bulbous nose twitched, and its huge eyes stared reproachfully at Harry. “They’re kind of creepy.”

“God, you’re mean!” Louis scoffed and joined him. He scratched the tough skin of the Shukah’s chin. “They’re sweet little babies.”

“Are there any dangerous animals here?”

“I believe they found extremely venomous spiders when they got here. The size of dinner plates.”

“What?!” Harry exclaimed.

Louis laughed. “But they seem to stay away from us. No one’s seen them inside the approved border for years and years. In fact, most insects give us a wide berth.”

“My kinda insects,” Harry said.

Jesy was doing her rounds and so Louis introduced the pair. Harry had now met all the people who would be involved in training him. Harry would have to do a lot of thinking on his feet, but Louis was confident that he was capable. Maybe it was for the best that he was here as a vet instead of a painter. Maybe he would’ve been wasted.

“I should probably give you back to Josie,” Louis said, a little regretfully as they made their way away from the farm. “Anyway, my typing things into a computer isn’t gonna do itself.”

“Well, you’ve introduced me to the people Josie was struggling to find time for, so thank you. You wanna hang out later? Get drunk? I assume we’re allowed.”

“Absolutely,” Louis replied.

“Come round mine whenever you feel like it,” Harry said. “Bring alcohol. There were some weird beers in my fridge, is that the only alcohol they have?”

“Ah, no.” Louis smirked and wagged a finger at Harry. “I’ll bring round a special treat. You like whiskey?”

“Sure.”

“We have this scientist, Dr. Shepherd. He’s seventy-seven and he was one of the first to live here. He created his very own whiskey and you won’t believe how good it is.”

-

Harry was twenty-eight Earth years old but something about being tipsy made him look ten years younger, at least to Louis. His cheeks were rosy and his expression was slack as he blinked slowly at Louis.

“Hey, how long did it take you to get over your jet lag?” Harry asked. He let out a little whine when Louis winced. “What?”

“Two or three months?” Louis replied. “Sorry.”

“Aw, man.”

“That’s why you’re on fewer hours than people like me. Once you’ve adjusted, you’ll have a slightly longer working day. Try not to stress about it. It’s a big ask of your body, you know, trying to reprogramme your circadian rhythm.”

“I didn’t think it was even possible.”

“As I say, it’s a big ask. They prefer to leave you to it, but a fair amount of people struggle with it, so there’s medication they can provide if you can’t manage.”

Harry frowned and hiccuped. “Alright, thanks. So, are you supposed to average six hours sleep?”

“Yup, six-hour working day and six hours sleep. All in all, you work less than on Earth.”

Harry placed his glass on the table and cuddled his knees to his chest. “This doesn’t feel like home yet.”

Louis sighed. “Homesick?”

Harry nodded and pressed his lips against his knee. “I know I just need to get used to the fact this is my home now. There’s no way back.”

“It’s extremely rare they let anyone go back,” Louis told him regretfully. “It’ll get easier, love.”

Harry looked up in response to the term of endearment. He smiled.

“Thanks. I suppose I just need to try and embrace it. I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful, or anything. You made it perfectly clear when you recruited me that if I came over, I’d never be going home.” Harry shrugged and looked away from Louis self-consciously. “I just miss my mum.”

Louis threw caution to the wind and moved to sit next to Harry. He wrapped an arm around him, and Harry responded immediately by laying his head on Louis’ shoulder. 

“I know,” Louis said quietly. “Me too.”

“Well,” Harry said, punctuating with a sniff. “At least we’ve become friends.”

“Yup. And since I am not your professional mentor, I’m here for any moral support you need. Okay?”

“Thanks,” Harry murmured.

-

There were still seven days in a week on Rumah, and it was the weekend. Louis spent the majority of his Saturday busying himself with cleaning his flat, and once he had tired himself out he collapsed on the sofa with a somewhat premature glass of wine, considering it wasn’t even 4pm.

Louis was finally starting to feel like he was settling in on this planet. He had to admit that having a friend really helped. Sweet Harry, a similar age to Louis with a deliciously familiar accent which grounded Louis nicely. It was a slice of home that he didn’t know he desperately needed. 

He didn’t want to overdo it, but he was bored and craved Harry’s company. After twenty minutes of trying to talk himself out of it, he picked up the phone and dialled Harry’s number: 430102.

_ “Styles, Medical.” _

“Hiya, it’s just me. Um, Louis.”

_ “Lou! Hi. Josie says I need to answer the phone like that. How’s it going?” _

“Not bad. What have you been getting up to?”

_ “Studying. Sleeping. Eating. I found some weird cheese in my fridge that grilled nicely.” _

Louis laughed. “Well, experimentation is good. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out. Do you play football? I’ve been looking for someone to have a kickabout with.”

_ “Sure! I’m not very good. It’s that clumsy thing again. By the way, I’m still mad at you for that joke about the scientist tripping out of the atmosphere.” _

“Haha! Aw, I’m sorry.”

_ “Well, maybe I’ll trip you during footie. See if you fall out of the atmosphere.” _

“I wouldn’t dare if I were you, lad.”

A little giggle creaked through the line.  _ “Alright, enough of the threats. I’ll leave in a bit, I’ll be there in about an hour?” _

“Perfect.”

-

Harry had been right. He was clumsy.

“Are you sure you don’t need a doctor?” Louis asked, frowning at Harry’s knee. In a bid to trip Louis, Harry had succeeded in tripping only himself and bashed his knee open on the rocky surroundings of the artificial lawn Louis had in his communal garden. “You might need stitches.”

“No,” Harry whined. “It’s fine.”

“Harry, it’s not. You really think on Monday you’ll be able to stand and watch Lucie dissect a Kopu or trot around the hospital with Josie?”

Harry groaned. “No.”

“Right. Come on, then. Someone will be on duty. You might even get sewn up by one of your travel buddies.”

They slowly made their way to the hospital and found Niall sitting with his feet up on his desk, eating biscuits.

“Hi Louis, Harry. What’s going on?”

_ “Somebody  _ fell over and cut his knee on some rock.”

“Rock?” Niall pouted as he stood up and gestured for Harry to sit down. He dropped to his knees to peer at Harry’s wound. “Were you at home?”

“We were at mine,” Louis interjected.

“Oh, right. Well, I see you’ve cleaned it but I do need to flush the wound. That stuff in Louis’ back garden is volcanic rock and your body will not handle having that shit in it. There’s all sorts of weird and wonderful crap in the volcanic rock here, so we need to clean it. Then I think some dissolvable stitches will be fine.”

Louis took pity on Harry - who looked a bit like he was going to be sick - and stood next to him to drape a comforting arm across his shoulder. Harry quickly clung to Louis’ hand as Niall stood up and left the room to fetch some things.

“You’re trouble, Louis Tomlinson.” Harry tilted his head back to look up at Louis. “If I’d stayed home, I wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“But then you would’ve stayed indoors thinking about how much you miss me.”

He said it jokingly without really thinking, but as soon as the words left his mouth he kicked himself. He felt Harry tense ever so slightly under him and Louis rolled his eyes closed.

“Well,” Harry started quietly. “I-”

“Right, then!” Niall said as he re-entered the room. “This will sting a bit, I won’t lie to ya.”

“That’s okay,” Harry replied. 

“Hobble this way. I need to have you lying down.”

Harry glanced at Louis before standing to his feet. Louis and Niall supported him between them as they crossed the corridor into the consulting room. They got Harry flat onto his back and Niall got to work flushing the wound as he cheerfully made conversation.

“I’ve been thinking, lads. Since we’re some of the only young people on this bloody planet, we should get to know each other a bit. Don’t you think? It’s okay if not. But I just thought about having a dinner party, or something. It would be nice to get together. You two seem to know each other pretty well, but I don’t know either of you that well myself, so… yeah.”

Louis was frowning at Niall, before realising he had stretched his little speech out to distract Harry. His wound was flushed and Harry hadn’t whinged once.

“That’s a great idea,” Louis replied. “There are other young people about, though. What about Dr. Malik?”

Niall frowned. “He’s great, yeah. But I just don’t think he’s the social type. Well, not that he’s not the social type, but he’s very serious. And isn’t he your boss?”

“Yeah,” Louis said with a sigh.

“I’m not sure he would come if we asked him.”

“Invite him anyway. If he comes, I don’t mind having my boss there. We’re all somewhat new here, we’re all out of sorts. Big, serious scientist or not, he’s still a boy without his family, like us.”

Harry croaked out a strange noise that sounded suspiciously like a sob.

“You’re right, of course you are,” Niall said. “I’ll invite him.”

“What about Lucie?” Harry piped up. “We should invite Lucie.”

“No,” Niall said quickly.

Louis and Harry exchanged a glance. “Um, okay.”

“Bring a bottle or dish, something.” Niall stood up straight and slapped Harry’s on the thigh. “All done.”

Harry raised his eyebrows and looked down at where his poor, sewn up knee was poking out the bottom of his shorts. “Amazing! Thanks, Niall.”

“Ah, that’s Dr. Niall to you. Just bring something nice to mine. Shall we say tomorrow evening?”

Louis walked Harry home before heading home himself. He fetched a bucket of water from the spring and rinsed the blood from the rocky path. One of his colleague who lived in the block with him came out and frowned.

“What are you doing?”

“My friend came round for a kickabout and fell arse over tit. He had to get stitches.”

“I hope they cleaned it properly. His body will reject that stuff pretty viciously.”

“Mm, I hope so, too.”

Louis went inside and wished that texting was a thing on Rumah. If he wanted to give Harry a message, he would have to speak with him on the phone or just walk across the town to his block. It wasn’t important. Louis just wished he could send a little teasing text, tell him he just washed his blood away and that his leg was probably going to fall off. He resisted picking up the phone.

-

Louis went round to Harry’s to pick him up and take him to Niall’s. Louis made a phoku and cheese salad, and he didn’t know what Harry planned on bringing so he picked up a 4-pack of the latest native beer. 

“As if you thought I wouldn’t have anything!” Harry scoffed. “I made a chocolate cake. It’s got a crazy good ganache topping. The Kopu cream is insane!”

“Aw, babe, Niall’s allergic to chocolate.”

“What?” Harry whined in despair. “Why didn’t you tell me?!”

Louis bit his lip, but it was no use. He burst out laughing and shook his head.

“Sorry, sorry! I couldn’t resist.”

“Oh my  _ God. _ You’re such a dickhead!”

Louis smiled sweetly. “Aw, I’m sorry. I promise I’m gonna stop teasing you.”

Harry glared at him. “You better.”

Louis blinked for a couple of seconds. “My colleague says your leg might fall off if Niall didn’t clean it properly.”

Harry didn’t react, much to Louis’ disappointment. “Well, let’s hope he’s a good doctor, because he’s responsible for training every other doctor on the planet.”

“True.”

“And the vet.”

They made their way to Niall’s, and neither of them were surprised to find that Dr. Malik wasn’t there.

“Zayn said he’d maybe join us next time,” Niall said diplomatically. “He said something about samples that he needed to look at.”

Louis scoffed. “Alright.”

Niall had cooked some kind of fish. Louis wasn’t very versed in the various different fish species, but whatever it was that Niall had prepared, it was tasty. Salty and fresh, Louis scoffed it quickly and clutched at his stomach afterwards.

“Niall, that was amazing.”

“Thanks. Lucie taught me how to pan fry these suckers and season them with some herb that she made from a plant. She found it outside the border.”

Harry eyed Niall. “Have you been beyond the border?”

“Once or twice. They put together research teams fairly often. You guys should let Dr. Malik know if you’re interested.”

“That would be so cool!” Harry said with a slight gasp.

“Once you get about a mile out the grass turns a strange shimmering purple. It’s beautiful, honestly.”

“Why is it purple?” Louis asked.

“They think it’s something to do with volcanic activity. The core of this planet is different from ours, the volcanic ash and rock has a different composition. That’s why it was important I cleaned Harry’s knee properly. How is it, Harry?”

“It’s fine,” Harry mused. “It still hurts like fuck.”

“Keep an eye on it.”

They started to drink, and Louis found himself becoming more and more slumped on Niall’s sofa, and closer and closer to Harry. By the time Louis had decided he’d had enough, his head was in Harry’s lap and Niall’s glazed over eyes were watching them in amusement.

“What is there to do for fun around here, anyway?” Harry asked.

“Nothing,” Niall said, punctuated with a giggle. “People on this planet are too serious.”

“It’s good we have each other, then,” Louis said. “We should make some games. A pool table, or something.”

“But the ship!” Niall cried out. “The ship’s coming! It’s really gonna en… enri… enrich our lives.”

“With a gym?” Harry said.

“Not just the gym,” Louis replied, nodding at Niall. “There’s the canteen. Can be used as a restaurant. And didn’t I hear they’re fitting a pool?”

Niall nodded loosely. “Yup. It’s gonna be great. Hey, you guys wanna stay the night?”

“No, no. No.” Louis slapped his hand onto Harry’s thigh and pushed himself up. “We should go home.”

“Right.” Niall rolled off his beanbag and thudded onto the floor. “Let’s coffee.”

“Huh?” Harry grunted.

-

No one ever tended to be out late at night, and so Harry and Louis were the sole occupants of the town as they walked through it to get home. The ground was fairly rocky and, being drunk, Harry was having trouble negotiating it on his bad knee, so Louis held his hand to guide him.

“Like, this planet is so weird!” Harry was rambling. “Purple grass? Teeny tiny cows? Niall?”

“Niall’s from Earth, genius.”

“I always think about the things I can’t get here. We were spoiled at home.”

“Like what?” Louis asked dutifully. “There’s actually a lot of supplies here, you just need to ask the right people.”

“Just things like… McDonald’s. Marmite. Vibrators.”

Louis snapped his head round to look at Harry and immediately tripped over a dip in the ground. He reached for Harry to try and steady himself but he tumbled to the ground, releasing Harry’s hand so he didn’t pull him down, too.

“And they call me clumsy,” Harry said with a sigh. He held a hand out to help Louis up but Louis scrambled to his feet on his own. “Are you okay?”

“You caught me off guard.”

“It’s true though! Like, how long will it be before they start producing sex toys on this planet? It’s nobody’s priority. No kinds of fun are anybody’s priority, here.”

“Hey. Fun is… somewhat of a priority to me.”

“Really?” Harry said, sounding amused. They resumed their walk. “Do you think you might be able to learn how to make them?”

Louis laughed. “Well, I could maybe give it a go. Not for a while, though. I’m sorry, but helping to sustain the population is my main priority.”

“Damn.”

They arrived at Harry’s, and Harry insisted that Louis stayed, or at least came in for a coffee.

“I have to get home!” Louis whined. “But I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Harry sighed and pulled Louis in for a hug. He buried his face in the crook of Louis’ neck. “Thanks.”

“What did I do?”

“You looked after me. You’re the best.”

Louis pulled away, smiling, and pinched Harry’s cheek. “Don’t forget to elevate that knee. See you tomorrow.”

-

Harry started his veterinary training, and Louis found his next batch of recruits. The months until Princess landed on Rumah for good were ticking down and Louis began to get excited. A shipful of new people was always exciting but, as Niall had said, the ship becoming a permanent fixture on the planet would change everybody’s lives. 

After that… the next ship over would contain Louis’ first batch of recruits, the group that Harry was originally in. An increase in efficiency meant that they were coming over a few years earlier than originally anticipated, and Louis couldn’t wait. As much as he had enjoyed being Harry’s unofficial mentor, he was looking forward to having his recruits here, having something that felt truly productive to do.

He had signed himself and Harry up for an expedition outside of the border. He took a visit to Dr. Malik one day to ask about it, as it had been a while and he hadn’t heard anything back.

“Take a seat, Louis, and I’ll just check the progress of your application. Did you request a specific type of expedition? Some types are more frequent than others.”

“No, no. I mostly just signed us up for any expedition into the wild.”

Dr. Malik peered at his screen before turning to look at Louis curiously.

“There is a different kind of expedition coming up. You weren’t flagged up for it, but I reckon you might like it. And could be an asset to the team.”

“Harry, too?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Louis raised an eyebrow. “Go on, then. What is it?”

Dr. Malik smirked. “They’re popping on an expedition into space. They’re just going to orbit Rumah a few times and do a bit of thermal imaging, photographing and some other bits and pieces.”

“Oh. Gosh. Well, that would be incredible. Would both of us be allowed the time off?”

“Yeah, for sure. Look, I’m going to put your names straight on the passenger list, but chat to Harry and make sure he’s on board. So to speak.”

Harry was a hundred percent on board.

“It’s gonna be so cool!” Harry said excitedly. “I could barely see anything when we came in on Princess.”

“This will be much better. The shuttle will be about a hundred times lighter than the ship, so the whole thing isn’t as rough on the body. As far as I’m aware, apart from take off and landing we’ll be allowed to move around.”

“It’s gonna be  _ so sick!” _

Their little expedition was leaving in two weeks and they had to attend a few evening sessions in that time to refresh them on the ins and outs of space travel, even if they were only going into orbit. After one particular session, Louis walked Harry home, and Harry invited him in for a drink.

“Hmm.” Louis frowned, before breaking into a smile. “Alright. But only for a couple. We’re far too busy this week to get smashed.”

They headed into Harry’s little apartment and Louis threw himself down on the sofa while Harry went to fetch beer. 

“You know, all this orbit mission crap is time you could’ve spent learning to make vibrators.”

Louis scoffed and sat up as Harry walked in the room and handed him a bottle.

“Well, maybe I just want to surprise you. Ever thought about that? Maybe I’m really far along in the process already!”

“I spend way too much time with you to even begin to believe that.”

Harry hit the sofa with a soft thud, propped one leg up on the arm and rested his head on Louis’ shoulder.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Always.”

Harry sniffed. “Are you scared of dying? Wait, that’s not really what I’m asking. I’m just… you had to come to terms with it, right? Before you came? The possibility of dying.”

Louis sighed and rested his cheek on the top of Harry’s head. The risk of the journey to Rumah was hammered into them in preparation for emigration. It certainly was on Louis’ mind for a long time before he got here.

“I suppose so. I’m a big believer in the whole, ‘when it’s your time, it’s your time’ thing. I mean, my family were losing me either way. Is this really any easier for them? Maybe they can sleep at night, knowing that I’m doing something I love.”

“Mm. Yeah.”

“You worried about going into orbit?”

Harry sighed. “I suppose so, a part of me. I just keep thinking about the space shuttle disaster in 1986.”

Louis frowned. “Why do you think about that?”

“Because. It’s terrifying. Did you know seventeen percent of Americans were watching live? So, so many kids were watching in their classrooms. They watched it explode and fall back to Earth in crumbs, Louis.”

“Harry,” Louis said softly. “That was, like, a thousand years ago. Technology has advanced so much that going into space and coming back again is as safe as flying on a plane. I mean, you travelled through space and a bloody wormhole for weeks on end to get here.”

“I know,” Harry said with a tiny laugh. “I know I’m being irrational. I don’t know. I tried to suppress my anxiety about coming here when I was back on Earth, and once I got here safely I relaxed, thinking I’d never have to go through the massive risk again.”

“You’re not going through it again. You know the wormhole was the main risk of the journey. They won’t send us through a wormhole again if they don’t have to. This orbit thing is just a cute little day trip for us.”

“Sorry,” Harry said. “Sorry. I overthink sometimes. I kind of love being here and I’d hate for my time to prematurely end. Especially because I was supposed to be coming here to be an artist, not a vet!”

Louis shifted his arm around to drape it on Harry’s shoulders. “You’re gonna die an old man, warm in his bed. Not in space.”

“Don’t paraphrase Titanic to me.” Harry let out a petulant whine. “I miss Titanic.”

“Well, when Princess docks for good, there will be a cinema here. I’m sure they’ll have Titanic stored.”

“Oh God! Films! I can’t wait.”

“We’ve got our expedition to look forward to, first.” Louis gave Harry a reassuring squeeze.

“Suppose so.”

Louis craned his neck to look at Harry’s face. “It’s not compulsory. If you’d rather not go, it’s cool. We can sit this one out and sign up for next time.”

“We?” Harry sat up, turned towards Louis and shook his head, frowning. “Louis, no. If I was to decide I didn’t want to go, I would never want that to stop you from taking such a great opportunity. Is that what you think? That I’d expect you to stay behind just because I am?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just… I thought we were friends who stuck together, that’s all. I wouldn’t want to go up there without you.”

“That’s stupid!” Harry said, exasperated. “Louis, that’s really sweet. But I would feel awful if I were to ever hold you back like that.”

Louis hung his head and scratched anxiously at his arm. What Harry was saying was very sweet, really it was. The trouble was, Louis found himself hurt by the fact that Harry didn’t see them as a pair. They spent a lot of their time together these days, and Louis would never dream of going into orbit without Harry. Why would he want to? Half of the excited anticipation he felt for the expedition was for the fact that he and Harry would be experiencing it together.

“It’s not about you holding me back. It’s about us going through this wonderful thing together. If you’re scared and you don’t want to go, I want to be there with you when you finally go. I don’t want to go up on my own and have to tell you all about it afterwards. Making this trip from home was the loneliest, most terrifying thing. I don’t want to be lonely again. Doing the expedition with anyone else just wouldn’t be the same. If I’m doing it on my own, I don’t want to do it.”

Harry sighed and looked down. All of a sudden he was moving, and for an alarming moment Louis thought Harry was about to straddle him but instead he got to his knees on the sofa and hugged Louis close, one knee between Louis’ two.

“I’m sorry. I was thinking about myself.”

Louis smiled and squeezed him back. “You have to, sometimes.”

Harry pulled back ever so slightly to smile at Louis before pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“I’ll go. Absolutely. If you hold my hand until we reach orbit.”

Louis giggled softly. “Deal.”

-

Harry attended his classes and prepared for their little trip with steely determination. The night before they went, he was so nervous that he stayed at Louis’, just so there was someone else nearby.

They ate a quiet breakfast when they woke up bright and early. The sky was an eerie, inky purple colour. Louis didn’t exactly see a lot of Rumah sunrises but as far as he knew, it was the usual colour. He had never bothered to find out why everything was purple here.

“You wanna stay round tonight, too?” Louis asked. “You’re welcome to, if you want.”

“I think I’ll want to, yeah. Thank you.”

“Got your camera all charged up?”

“Yep.”

Louis swigged the rest of his tea and stood to put his breakfast things in the sink. Harry was very quiet, and it unnerved Louis. He didn’t seem excited at all.

Harry sat back against the chair and folded his hands in his lap. Louis frowned before approaching Harry from behind and wrapping his arms around him.

“There’s still time to change your mind,” he whispered. “If you want.”

Harry shook his head. “No. I’m fine.”

“Sure?”

Harry nodded. “Just nervous. Once we’re up there, I’ll be excited. I swear.”

“You’re sure you’re not just putting on a brave face for me?”

“I’m sure.”

They headed to the launch site in silence. The astronauts were outside, kicking a football between them and laughing loudly, raucously about something. Louis turned to Harry, who was frowning.

“They’re so relaxed,” Harry remarked, surprise evident in his voice.

“That’s because they know there’s nothing to worry about. They’re just letting loose before they have to get all serious and focused for the rest of the day, while we ooh and aah out the window.”

Harry finally cracked a smile. “Yeah.”

“And look at those guys.” Louis nodded to where they could see the technicians preparing the shuttle. “They’re working tirelessly so we can have a fun day out.”

“Out of the atmosphere.”

“Very good,” Louis deadpanned. “Let’s go check in.”

They stopped to briefly chat to the astronauts and kick the ball with them for a minute before heading into the building. Harry seemed in better spirits as he chatted with the scientists, even as he took the cocktail of medication the both of them were required to take. Antioxidant drugs to reduce the harm of radiation. Anti-sickness for the nausea and dizziness. A little something to relax Harry, as per Louis’ suggestion.

“Here are your packs,” the scientist told them, handing them both little pouches. “More anti-sickness, some stimulants for when you get up there and some painkillers. There’s another pill for you, Harry, for the way back if you’re nervous. Only take what you need to.”

“Thank you, Stuart.”

The astronauts started to pile in, quietening down quickly as they started to kit up and prepare. There were only a handful of other spectators like Harry and Louis, some of which Louis vaguely recognised from around the place. Everybody started to suit up, and so Harry and Louis went to do the same. It wasn’t necessary for the majority of the trip, but for liftoff and landing, they needed to suit up as a precaution. It was an annoyance to everyone, but it had been needed in the past.

Everybody boarded the spacecraft and Harry sat stiffly in his seat. Louis busied himself with strapping Harry in before sitting down himself. He took Harry’s hand.

“This is gonna be so much fun.”

Harry hummed. “I’ll be okay once we’re up.”

Their hands remained linked as everybody else settled in and their restraints were checked. It reminded Louis of back home, when he would strap himself in to a rollercoaster and some bored adolescent would come along to check his restraint was secure. It was a ridiculous comparison. His little sister used to be scared of rollercoasters, but Louis would say to her,  _ science keeps you safe, Fiz. _

It’s what he told her, too, when he left to come to Rumah.  _ Science will keep me safe, Fiz.  _ The doubt in her eyes was as clear as day. She was old enough, by then, to know the uncertainties of sending a spaceship through a wormhole. Unlike the rollercoaster, there was an incredibly real risk that Louis was taking as he boarded the ship, that day. He had waved goodbye to his family, knowing he would never see them again, and hoping that his feet would once again make it to solid ground.

The shuttle started to vibrate as various systems began to switch on and Harry squeezed at Louis’ hand. Louis still found himself surprised at how nervous Harry was. How the hell did he manage to bring himself to come over on the Princess? With the massive risk involved? It was a mystery.

People were running around making the final preparations and checks and before Louis knew it, the doors were closing and they were instructed to seal their helmets. Soon enough, the shuttle was vibrating and rumbling so severely that Louis didn’t know whether they had blasted off, which way was up, if his head had fallen off…

He looked over to Harry. His eyes were clenched shut so tightly that it must have been giving him a headache. Louis squeezed his hand and Harry didn’t acknowledge it, except to relax his forehead slightly.

The violent shaking began to ease off and the noise of the rocket engines became clear and evident. Harry had opened his eyes, now, although he was staring ahead, unseeing, muttering something. Louis turned to look out the tiny window to his right and, wow. He had looked at the right time. He watched as they ascended out of the atmosphere and the blue sky fell away, turning inky at first before blacking out completely. His vision was suddenly filled with bright white light, and he winced away from the light of the sun. It wasn’t quite as big as the sun back home, and it was weaker. Louis would never have a tan again, but at least he could look at the sun without blinding himself.

There was a brief shudder and something gave way. Harry jumped, startled, but Louis heard the familiar crackle of static in his helmet and the soft chuckle of one of the astronauts surrounded him.

_ “That’s just us jettisoning some hardware. A couple of minutes, and you’ll be able to take your helmets off.” _

Louis couldn’t hear Harry, but he felt him physically release tension. He looked over, and Harry smiled reassuringly.

-

Fifteen minutes later, they were released from their restraints and Louis held a hand out to help Harry who stood up, wobbling on his legs a bit.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “My legs haven’t got the message that we’re safe yet.”

Louis smiled and wrapped an arm around Harry’s waist. “Let’s go through to the observation deck. This tin can is hardly the Princess, but I think we’ll have a good view.”

Harry grinned. “Don’t let the astronauts hear you talk about this ship that way. It’s their baby.”

Louis was relieved as anything that Harry had been true to his word and perked up, now they were out in space. He watched as Harry pressed his palms against the floor-to-ceiling pane of glass, gazing in amazement at the distant planet. Their new home. 

“It’s beautiful!” Harry said. “Wow, look at all that purple.”

“I think that’s around where all the volcanoes are. They say it’s quiet dangerous to explore on the ground. Most of the exploration they’ve done is either out in orbit or by drone.”

Harry nodded thoughtfully. “Be right back. My cameras in one of those locker things.”

Louis folded his arms and lent against a wall, gazing out into space. He could see the closest of Rumah’s three moons and he couldn’t stop smiling. He hadn’t seen very much when he had come over. They had been hurtling through space into Rumah’s atmosphere and at this stage, he was pretty sure he had been unconscious.

“Will you take a photo of me?” Harry asked. “I’d love to send it to my family.”

“Of course. That’s a lovely idea.”

Harry posed for a few and then took some of Louis. A few of the others who were on board mostly for observation asked Harry to take some, too, and they all got chatting about their jobs and such, until one of the astronauts joined them.

“Hi, guys!” he said in a faint Japanese accent. “How was the ascent for you?”

“Terrifying,” Harry murmured, quiet enough that only Louis could hear.

The astronaut introduced himself as Allen and he talked the group through some things they could see. Rumah was somewhat covered in cloud, now, but he did his best and answered questions.

“Allen,” Harry said, looking out and frowning. “There’s a dark cloud over there. I’ve not really seen any that dark.”

Allen craned his neck to look out at what Harry was seeing. He was right. They did have some rainfall on Rumah on occasion, but weather was so mild that such an ominous looking cloud made Louis shiver.

“Huh!” Allen said with mild amusement. “Looks stormy. How interesting. I’d better go report that to meteorology. Be right back!”

Allen quickly walked away and Harry turned to Louis with wide eyes.

“Allen was surprised. That doesn’t bode well.”

“Calm down. It is pretty unusual to see a storm cloud around here.” Louis nudged Harry. “I thought I’d never hear the sound of thunder again. I love a good storm.”

“Hm.”

Allen returned with a camera of his own. He took a photo of the cloud before folding his arms and smiling.

“Any of you got family over here?”

One of the others said her husband was a scientist, and Allen got excited and chatted to her for a bit. Harry and Louis went off to sit at a small table, and Harry pulled a sandwich out of his little bag.

“It’s like, nine in the morning. You’re really gonna eat your lunch now? We’re gonna be up here for nearly ten more hours.”

“I packed three sandwiches. Three meals a day! Right?”

“Yes, but we already had breakfast at mine.”

Harry rolled his eyes and took a bite. “That was ages ago.”

Louis scoffed. There was a window next to them, and Louis looked out. It was terrifying, really. All that… void. Emptiness. An inhospitable, endless nothingness.

“I can’t believe how far we travelled.” Louis shook his head. “Our families are, like, a billion billion miles away. What the hell?”

“Mm, thanks for that, Louis. Really helps.”

Louis pouted. “Sorry. I’ve been here a while but I still can’t comprehend it.”

“You won’t.” Harry shrugged with a slight smile. “Stop trying.”

Louis looked over to where a couple of astronauts were fiddling with some kind of machine and muttering to each other. Louis was curious, but he didn’t want to interfere.

“Hey, what do you think they’re doing?”

Harry looked over and pouted thoughtfully. “Maybe it’s the heat mapping thing.”

One of the astronauts looked up and Louis darted his eyes away quickly.

“Hey,” the astronaut called over. “Come here.”

Louis stood up and walked over, feeling like he had been caught out. He glanced over at Harry, who was smirking.

“You wanna see what we’re doing?” the astronaut asked.

“Yeah!”

Harry had been right. The astronaut explained that they were conducting thermal imaging on the device and Louis peered at the screen. Blues and greens and yellows and reds filled the screen. The computer was mapping the planet with the images for further analysis. As they continued to drift over Rumah, the screen turned almost completely red before patches of pink and purple emerged, different shades churning ominously.

“God, what’s that?”

“That, my son, is a volcanic valley. Too dangerous to explore on foot. Look.”

The astronaut brought up another view, a simple video feed of the surface of the planet. The cloud had cleared and Louis could see the purple rock of the volcano valley, bright orange streaks of lava flowing down thin channels.

“Harry!” Louis called. “You have to see this!”

Harry came over and gazed over Louis’ shoulder.

“Oh, wow!” Harry gasped. “It’s beautiful.”

“Does it erupt much?” Louis asked. 

“It’s in a constant state of effusive eruption, which is when it’s just steadily flowing out lava like that. Explosive eruptions have happened in the past, but not since we discovered the planet. If it does explosively erupt again, we’ll be in real trouble.”

“What?” Harry squeaked.

“Oh… not you guys. Not the society. But an ash cloud could affect our air exploration, even out in low orbit, like we are now. Also, It could make even more of the planet unreachable. The gases and ash here are far more poisonous to us than on Earth.”

“So, we wouldn’t be in danger over in the town?” Louis asked.

The astronaut shook his head. “It’s unlikely. We’ll likely push the habitable boundary back a good way in our lifetime, but not far enough, I don’t think.”

Louis sighed. There was so much of the planet that he would never see. The safe zone would never allow him to see much of his new home planet and even with expeditions outside of the boundary, there was so much that would remained unexplored.

Still, he had the unique opportunity to come up here and see the whole planet from space, which was as good as it was going to get.

“Guys!”

Allen was over in the observation deck and was gesturing wildly for Harry and Louis to come over. Louis thanked the thermal imaging astronaut and they made their way over.

“Behold! The Rumah ocean.”

The landmass of Rumah was split into just three continents, and the town was absolutely nowhere near the ocean. Louis couldn’t help but gasp. The coast was green with rich vegetation and the ocean was a rich blue. It looked just like home. Harry made a strange noise and rested his chin on Louis’ shoulder.

“Beautiful,” he whispered.

“Are there beaches?” Louis asked.

“Oh, yes!” Allen replied excitedly. “Unfortunately, this place isn’t safe to visit. Too close to the volcano valley. But there are others, and one day they’ll make it safe.”

“Are you saying I might get to go to the beach again in my lifetime?” Harry said hopefully.

“I all but guarantee it!”

-

Louis and a couple of the others were listening to a scientist on board who was explaining about moon phases and the effects on the tide. Harry was up at the observation deck, taking photos. 

“You might think that Rumah having three moons would make the tides erratic, but that’s not the case at all. They’re still predictable, but the patterns are different from Earth. Towards the end of the year, the tide comes up real high and stays there for a couple months.”

Louis turned to look at Harry, who was clutching his camera and just staring out. Louis stood up and joined him.

“Alright?”

“It’s overwhelming. Right?”

“Mm.”

Harry frowned. “I miss home. I know there’s nothing I can do about it. But.. I do.”

Louis wrapped his arms around Harry’s waist and rested his head on his shoulder.

“I don’t think that will ever go away, love.” He sighed. “That planet out there, that’s home, now.”

Harry forced a smile and nodded. “Yeah. And that’s okay. You’re never gonna leave me, are you?”

Louis rolled his eyes fondly. “I ain’t got nowhere to go!”

As they passed the halfway mark, they spotted the next planet over from Rumah. Acara was Rumah’s sister planet, alike in a lot of ways but, being that little bit further away from the sun, it was uninhabitable. Louis gasped. It was blue, the exact shade of the Earth’s sky on a brilliantly clear summer’s day. It was beautiful. Acara was two thirds bigger than Rumah and, even though it was millions of miles away, it stood proudly in front of them, big enough to appreciate its beauty.

Harry started taking photos while Louis distractedly ate his lunch. It seemed strange to do something as mundane as eat a sandwich on such a momentous day, a day he would remember for the rest of his life. Harry kept turning to grin at Louis excitedly.

“This is so sick.” Harry sighed happily. “Thank you for convincing me to come.”

Seeing Harry so happy pleased Louis no end. A trip like this was probably just what Harry needed. He had been suffering struggle after struggle, starting with his difficulty to physically adjust to the new planet, topped off with his fear of dying and his terrible homesickness. Seeing his new planet from a distance and realising that he was a part of something hugely significant, well. It could have just been the thing that kept Harry going.

-

“Nearly time to strap in, guys.”

Harry pouted sadly and turned to Louis. “I can’t believe it’s nearly over.”

“I know. But there will be other expeditions. We might not come up into space again, but if we get to explore more of the planet on the ground, that’s incredible, too.”

Harry nodded silently before slipping his arms around Louis’ waist and pulling him in for a hug. Louis was touched. He wrapped his arms around Harry and squeezed him tight.

“I’m so glad we got to do this together,” Harry murmured.

“Me, too.”

“Niall is gonna be so jealous!” Harry said as he pulled away. “We’re lucky, aren’t we?”

“We are. I’m glad I formed such a good relationship with Dr. Malik.”

“And I’m glad I formed such a good relationship with you.”

Louis cocked an eyebrow. “So, now you’re using me for my connections?”

Harry smirked and just shook his head. “Come on. Grab your helmet.”

“Excuse me?”

“Stop it!” Harry laughed. “Sit down.”

Louis did as he was told, clutching his helmet for the journey back down to Rumah. He watched as Harry took another anti-sickness pill and held the pill for his nerves in his hand.

“I, um. I think I’ll save this until we’re buckled in.”

They settled in and Allen came along to buckle them in. 

“Bet it will feel nice to have your feet back on the ground, eh?” He nudged Harry and winked. “You can relax again.”

Harry glared at him as Louis quietly giggled. Allen told them to start fixing their helmets so Harry quickly took his pill before glancing at Louis and smiling.

“Back home we go.”

-

They held hands on their descent and as soon as they were landed and docked, Harry practically cried out in relief.

“Thank God.” He scrambled at his restraints, trying to get free. “I need a drink.”

Louis snorted in amusement, freeing himself before helping a fumbling Harry get free. 

“Alright, well, not long now. Although is it safe to drink on all that medication?”

Harry looked at him indignantly. “I bloody hope so.”

As they all left the ship, someone was there to take a group photo. Harry immediately threw his arm around Louis’ waist and pulled him close.

“What’s this for?” Louis asked after a few photos were snapped.

“Newsletter,” the photographer told him. “For Earth, mostly. But we’re gonna start distributing, too.”

“Cool!” Harry said.

They were ordered to go and see Stuart the scientist for a debrief on their physiological state. Louis felt fine, just a bit tired. Harry was a bit shaky.

“I think the anxiety medication helped, but I was still shitting myself.”

“Well, I think we’d have to knock you out. Any sickness?”

“Nope.”

“Me neither,” Louis said. “Some of the others looked a bit peaky.”

“Okay. Anything else to report? Swellings? Headaches? Wooziness?”

Both Harry and Louis shook their heads. Louis was eager to get out of the launch building and into the fresh air. He didn’t experience any nausea during flight but he was starting to, now.

“Oh,” Harry said, pointing his finger upwards. “I meant to ask you, Stuart. Can we drink on this medication?”

“Generally, no. But you’ll be fine by the time you get home.” 

“Thanks!”

They said their goodbyes to Stuart, thanking Allen and the other astronauts and scientists as they passed them just outside. It was close to ten-midnight, and the town was completely bare as they walked back to Louis’ place. Harry yawned as he walked slightly ahead of Louis.

“It’s crazy to be back here, now.” Harry tilted his head up to the sky. “We were up there. Looking down here.”

Louis let out a quiet laugh. He was so, so tired, but the fresh air was helping. Having lived in London for a while before relocating to Rumah, Louis had acclimatised to the polluted air. Not only was the air on Rumah pure and clean, the atmosphere had a different composition of gases. Louis wondered if he would struggle to breathe in the polluted London air, should he ever return. Maybe he would have trouble breathing in even the unpolluted country air.

“I’m knackered, but I’m not sure I’m gonna be able to sleep.” Harry turned around and waited for Louis to catch up to him. “Too much adrenaline.”

“We’ll unwind with a bit of whiskey.”

“I’m not sure getting pissed will help.”

Louis chewed the inside of his cheek. “Okay, I might be able to help. But you absolutely cannot tell anyone.”

-

“Where the  _ hell _ did you get this?” Harry narrowed his eyes at Louis. “Is it legal?”

“There isn’t really a law system here yet, Harry.” Louis rolled the spliff between his fingers. “And yes, you aren’t allowed to smoke cigarettes here, but these aren’t cigarettes.”

“You’re not gonna get us kicked off the planet, are you?”

Louis smirked as he lit a match. “They grow it for medicinal purposes. Niall got me some.”

“You’re already starting up an illegal drugs trade?” Harry scoffed. “Way to ruin society in its infancy.”

“So you don’t want any?” Louis asked innocently and took a drag.

“Of course I want some!”

Fifteen minutes later, they were laying on Louis’ bed, Louis’ hand in Harry’s curls and they were both on their backs, staring up at the ceiling.

“I’m seeing stars,” Harry murmured.

“Hm? You alright?”

“Literally seeing stars. The ceiling’s space!” Harry sighed. “This stuff’s not like weed at home.”

“Probably full of volcanic crap that’ll kill us.”

“It’s nice. Feels good.”

Louis shrugged. “Most poison does.”

“Lou? Thanks again for making me go today. I’m forever in your debt for that.”

Louis turned his head and smiled at Harry. “No. Stop saying thank you.”

Harry smiled in turn and leaned in to kiss Louis on the lips. Louis was taken by surprise, and his mind was too sluggish to really comprehend what was happening until Harry had returned to his side, grinning with a blush on his cheeks.

Louis closed his eyes, thoughts and feelings and sights swelling around in his mind as he drifted off. He felt Harry shift closer to him and Louis fell asleep with his lovely friend cuddling him close.

-

The morning wasn’t as comfortable as the night. Louis’ back hurt, his bedroom was too hot, and he felt groggy. Harry was next to him, limbs flung in all directions.

“Ugh.” Louis rubbed his eyes and turned to shake Harry gently. “Wake up, Harry. Time for work.”

Harry gave no acknowledgement, and so Louis shook him a bit more. He finally groaned.

“No.”

“Come on, love.”

“Want the day off.” Harry groaned again and flipped over without opening his eyes. “We went to space yesterday, shouldn’t we get the day off?”

“If I remember correctly, Dr. Malik asked you if you wanted the day off and you said no.”

“Fuck off.” Harry cracked an eye open. “Is there coffee?”

So they got up, showered, and met in the kitchen for breakfast. They walked in silence to the centre of town, and when it came to part ways to their respective workplaces, Harry sighed.

“It’s weird, leaving you.”

Louis grinned. “Yeah. I suppose you’ll be glad to see the back of me, really.”

Harry grinned back and shook his head. They shared a hug, Louis feeling mildly awkward to be in such close proximity after last night, before Louis turned to head into his office.

As soon as he stepped through the door, countless people surrounded him to hear all about his trip to space. He wasn’t in the mood. He was tired, achy and, now that he was away from Harry, his mind was starting to dangerously overthink about what happened last night and he felt uneasy. Still, he endured the questions and slowly edged towards his desk as people bombarded him.

“What did you see?”

“Did they knock you out?”

“Did you throw up?”

“Did you see any other planets?”

It was lunchtime before he was truly alone again. He hadn’t been alone for ages, having been with Harry for the past two days, but he was glad to be left alone by his colleagues. He ate a salad for lunch, sitting out in the gardens of his office block. He stared up at the yellow tinted sky. He still couldn’t believe he had left the atmosphere yesterday. It was a day he would carry with him for the rest of his life. And he got to share it with his new best friend.

Harry. It had been a stressful and overwhelming day, and they had been high, but Harry had kissed him. Louis knew it probably didn’t mean anything and, at the end of the day, Harry was probably desperately, emotionally lonely. Louis hoped it wouldn’t become awkward between them and affect their friendship. He didn’t know how he would cope without it.

After a frankly underwhelming day at work, Louis headed home. His bed was unmade and messy, a stark reminder of everything that happened yesterday. Louis almost felt hungover from their adventures, and the thought of making his bed was as unappealing as it had been in the morning. He threw himself down onto his sofa and stared up at the ceiling. He felt a bit anxious, and he had no mobile phone to incessantly scroll, no TV to flick through its channels, no comprehensive internet access to distract himself with. 

He had a basic email system, though, so he busied himself with typing a long message to his family. He told them about his job, and Harry, and their visit to space. He told them about the Princess spaceship docking for good, and about the fact that Rumah would soon be developing a political system. As he came towards the end of his email, his phone rang.

“Tomlinson, society.”

_ “Hi, Tomlinson society! It’s Styles civilian medical.” _

Louis smiled to himself and sat down. “And what do you want?”

_ “Well… nothing. Nothing. How was work?” _

“Oh my God, did you have, like, everybody asking you question after question all day?”

_ “Yup.” _

“I should’ve released an official statement.” Louis sighed and put his feet up. “How was the rest of your day?”

_ “Weird. Well, not weird. But it’s a bit sobering to come back to work as normal. I feel a bit insignificant.” _

“Mm, I know what you mean.”

_ “Crazy stuff. Up to anything, then?” _

Louis narrowed his eyes. Something about Harry’s tone was a bit off. “Um, no. Sent an email to my family. I suppose I should think about what I want for dinner.”

_ “Got any ideas?” _

“Harry, are you alright? Did you really call me just to make small talk? It’s fine if you did, but…”

_ “Yeah, I just…” _

“Do you wanna come over?”

Harry sighed loudly.  _ “Yes.” _

“Look, why don’t I meet you in town? I found out today that a few of the wives of the top scientists opened a cafe. I guess they got brought over here with nothing to do.”

_ “Oh, that sounds amazing!” _

“Then you can come back to mine. Meet you in half an hour?”

-

Harry was quiet, but he seemed content enough as he glanced around the cafe. Louis was under the distinct impression, from the layout and structure, that this used to be some kind of laboratory. Maybe one that was no longer safe for operation. Presumably it was safe to eat in, but it wasn’t like there were health inspectors over here. Not yet.

“Are you alright?” Louis asked Harry for the second time today. 

Harry nodded. “Tired.”

Louis shrugged and picked up his menu. It was a modest selection of sandwiches and basic home-cooked meals, but the thought of someone else cooking and serving them was an absolute dream. He ordered a spaghetti bolognese and Harry ordered fish and chips. 

“You noticed there aren’t any churches here?” Harry mused. “I suppose because the place is full of scientists. I can’t imagine you get many religious scientists.”

“Actually, you’d be surprised. I think Dr. Malik is religious. Maybe they didn’t think a church was essential. I’m sure if someone requested it, they’d build one. I think a place of worship is, like, a basic human right.”

“Not if they’re trying to build an atheist community. I don’t think Earth rules apply over here.”

“What makes you think they’re trying to build an atheist community?” Louis folded his arms. “Did they ask you about your beliefs when you applied?”

“No.” Harry rolled his eyes and shrugged, relenting. “Okay, so I’m just assuming.”

“As I said, some of those guys are religious. But the science is the priority here. It’s not quite a real community around here yet, you know? If you break it right down, we’re all on NASA’s payroll.”

Harry hummed contemplatively as their food arrived. They thanked the kind-faced, middle aged woman that Louis had seen near Dr. Malik’s offices a few times, and Louis tucked straight in. He sighed contently.

“So good.”

“So, are you not religious, then?” Harry asked, watching Louis slurp his spaghetti. “Got any beliefs?”

“Not really. You?”

Harry’s mouth twisted into a frown. “I used to. All this stuff has kind of made me reevaluate.”

“Hm.”

They finished eating their food in silence. Harry’s mood still felt off to Louis, though no less off than he had on the phone. Louis had thought that Harry just needed company, but maybe it was more. Maybe it was to do with last night.

“My treat,” Louis said quickly when the bill was brought to the table. 

Harry rolled his eyes but didn’t respond. They didn’t have much need to spend money on Rumah, just at the supermarket. They didn’t have cash yet. Just bank accounts with swipe cards. It was the reason why Louis diverted the vast majority of his money home.

They left the cafe and started the walk back to Louis’. Harry spent the majority of the journey with his head tilted back, staring at the dark, starry sky.

“Do you think one of these stars is our sun? Like, Earth’s sun?”

“We’re much too far away, love. Without the wormhole, it would have taken us nearly a billion years to reach this planet.”

Harry sighed and shook his head. “You know, they told me all this before I came, but it all just went over my head.”

Louis stepped closer to Harry and linked his arm in his. “If you want to get your head around it, there are some books in the library up at the offices. And once Princess docks for good, there will be an entire library.”

Harry pouted and nodded. “I kind of liked the idea that I might be able to see it, even if I didn’t realise it.”

“Sorry.” Louis looked at him and smiled sadly. “You missing your family?”

“Is it that obvious?” Harry responded miserably. “It’s coming up to my mum’s birthday. I mean, I think it is. The calendar’s all weird here.”

“God, I know. I don’t know how old I’m supposed to be, when my birthday’s supposed to be, what the date is on Earth. I have an Earth calendar installed on my work computer to keep me sane.”

“I guess I’ll send her a birthday email anyway.”

Louis pressed his cheek into Harry’s shoulder briefly. “She’d love that.”

As they approached Louis’ building, Harry slowed to a stop.

“I feel very fortunate to have you.”

“Aw, Harry.” Louis pulled him into a hug. “Same. Let’s go in, yeah?”

-

In the time it had taken Louis to make them each a cup of tea, Harry had taken his shoes off, pulled the duvet out of Louis’ room and curled up on the sofa to fall asleep. Louis sighed quietly as he walked in and saw the sight in front of him.

The poor boy. Louis knew how hard it could get, emotionally, out here. Harry was a man, mid-twenties, a professional in a difficult job that he would have had to work extremely hard to become qualified for. But now, curled up on Louis’ sofa, he was a young, vulnerable boy who was, like, a trillion miles away from his mother.

Louis placed the tea on the table and carefully sat down by Harry’s feet, but even the slight movement jostled Harry and he stirred.

“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“Yeah.” Louis grinned. “That’s why you went into my bedroom, removed the duvet, and curled up in a sleeping position.”

Harry smiled sleepily and sat up. “Sorry.”

“That’s alright.”

Harry rubbed his eyes and blinked slowly. He turned to look at Louis in a way that made him feel a bit nervous, for some reason.

“Harry,” Louis said suddenly. “Can we talk about last night?”

“Oh, what happened?”

Louis raised his eyebrows. “Um. You kissed me.”

“Oh, that,” Harry replied casually. “What about it?”

Louis felt almost speechless, and that didn’t happen very often. He didn’t know what he was supposed to say to that.

“I just- I was wondering…” Louis shrugged. “Just… why you did it, I suppose.”

“Well, I was all messed up from the flight and plus, we were high. I don’t know. Felt like the right thing to do in the moment.”

“Okay,” Louis said slowly. “But what does it mean?”

Harry giggled softly. “Does everything have to mean something? I’m sorry if I overstepped the mark or I made you uncomfortable. As I say, I was high and it felt like it was what was supposed to happen.”

“Okay,” Louis said again. “I’ll shut up.”

Harry wriggled closer and rested his head on Louis’ shoulder. “You’ll never shut up. But that’s okay.”

There was something else niggling at Louis, though. Simon Cowell’s smug face popped into his head, the memory of him saying that it would be  _ counterproductive to the longevity of Rumah’s population  _ to send someone over who was gay haunting his mind. Louis didn’t know how Harry identified, but would it cause problems for him if he liked men?

Louis frowned. No one on the planet had given Louis any indication that they were homophobic, of course, but some of the top people probably felt strongly about the reproduction thing. Louis had meant what he said to Simon, that he was willing to do what he needed to do. Everyone at Louis’ job on Earth had known he was gay, but Harry had probably not heard the same speech as Louis.

“Can I say something?” Louis asked.

Harry sat up and frowned in concern. “Yeah, go on.”

“So, um. I don’t know if what happened means you’re into men…”

Harry’s face broke into a grin. “Louis! Of course I’m into men. I thought our whole vibrator in-joke was a good indication of that.”

“Hey, not necessarily!” Louis said with a laugh, despite himself. “Okay, so you’re into men. The thing is, when I interviewed to come over here, everybody at work knew I was gay, and my boss was reluctant to send me over here. He said it was counterproductive to send gay people over because we wouldn’t reproduce and we need to reproduce to sustain the population.”

“And?”

Louis shrugged. “Well, luckily his colleague vouched for me, and I told him that my sexuality and ability to reproduce aren’t mutually exclusive and that I’ll do what I have to do. Anyway, I just felt - as your now unofficial mentor - that I should make you aware that it’s a thing.”

“So they don’t like gay people on this planet?”

“No, no. That’s not what I’m saying.”

Harry sighed sadly, staring at where his hands were clutched together on top of the duvet. 

“Well, I’m sorry. It didn’t occur to me as something I needed to put on my application, but I apologise if you felt misled. I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Harry threw back the duvet and stood, quickly pushing his feet into his trainers. 

“Wait, where are you going?” Louis stood too, frowning in confusion. “It’s alright.”

Harry looked at him rather coolly. “If you feel that I’ve got you to bring me here under false pretences, I can only apologise. Except… I’m not sorry, actually. Because it doesn’t and shouldn’t matter. Of course, you know that.”

“Harry, I think you’ve misunderstood me.”

“It sounds a lot like you wouldn’t have brought me over here if you knew I was gay.”

Louis openly rolled his eyes, and stepped in front of the doorway so Harry couldn’t leave.

“Harry, love, you’ve  _ definitely _ misunderstood. It doesn’t make any difference to me. In fact, it’s nice to have another gay man around. I just wanted you to be aware in case someone, somewhere has an issue with it. Especially if you’re gonna go around kissing boys.”

Harry folded his arms and glanced at Louis out the corner of his eye. “I don’t  _ go around kissing boys. _ Just you.”

“Mm.”

“Shut up.” Harry betrayed a grin.

Louis smiled back and took a tentative step forward. When Harry dropped his arms to his sides, Louis moved in easily and wrapped his arms around Harry’s waist.

“I’m sorry that you misunderstood and it made you feel shit. I think it’s wonderful that you’re here.”

“I suppose we have to stick together.”

“Exactly.” Louis pulled away and smiled again. “Look, I’m a rather flamboyant individual, and nobody here has ever given me any kind of homophobe vibe. And it’s not as if Simon will ever come over here. He couldn’t possibly risk death.”

Harry winced minutely at the word. “Okay. We should fight against this as a concept though, you know.”

“You’re right.”

Harry removed his trainers and returned to the sofa. They sat close and drank their tea in silence, Louis feeling like they had grown closer, despite the misunderstanding.

-

The day that the Princess was to dock on Rumah for good, Harry and Louis made an event of it. Harry stayed at Louis’, of course, and they made breakfast and put coffee in a flask. The ship was docking just outside of the current boundary, an area which had been made safe and the boundary would be moved back once the ship was made safe. Harry and Louis ditched the idea of going to the site, instead choosing to settle on a rocky hillside with a wonderful vantage point.

“I can’t believe I’m so excited about basically having a leisure centre land in a field.”

Louis giggled around a mouthful of croissant. “Mm.”

“Well, we’ll have a new place to go out for dinner now. The chefs are coming over on this trip, right?”

Louis nodded. “Yeah.”

“I can’t wait! And a proper bar. It’ll be nice to get drunk somewhere other than at home.”

Louis laughed and opened his mouth to speak when he spotted something in the sky.

“Oh my God, here it comes!”

They fell silent as the small disc in the sky grew bigger and bigger until their hair billowed in the ripples of wind from the spacecraft. The noise was deafening. Harry linked his arm into Louis’ and gripped it excitedly.

“Wow.”

The impossibly huge craft finally landed, falling quiet and, although Harry and Louis could see the crowd react with jubilation, the sound of the celebration was lost on the wind and the quiet enveloped them as Harry laid his head on Louis’ shoulder.

“Everything’s gonna change now, isn’t it?” Harry asked.

“Not change, exactly. But I think everyone will benefit from a bit more leisure time.”

“I can’t wait to go for a swim.”

The Rumah calendar year was split into ten months of twenty-eight days each, but there was an eleventh month, a week-long mini-month between the fifth and sixth month during which everybody was off work. It was coming up in a couple of weeks, and it would be the official opening of the Princess. 

It was Saturday and, after watching Princess come in, Louis decided to pop into the office. He had left work on time last night - he had been tired and antsy - but he had a project to finish up with. When he stepped into the building, he bumped into Dr. Malik.

“Working on a Saturday?” Dr. Malik asked. “Most people are at the Princess.”

“We watched it come in, but I have some work to do.” Louis hummed. “I wanted to ask you something, actually.”

“Go for it.”

“Last week, I overheard some people talking about free lots on the Princess? I was wondering if you had any details on that.”

“I don’t, I’m afraid. But I can send you in the right direction. The Director of Princess is Dr. Steve Aoki. His office is a few doors down from mine, but he’s likely at the Princess. His phone number will be on his door, though.”

“Oh, thank you, Sir.”

Dr. Malik rolled his eyes. “It’s probably high time you start calling me Zayn.”

Louis smiled. “Thanks, Zayn. Maybe it’s time for you to start hanging out with us and Niall, then.”

Zayn laughed and turned to walk back to his office. “Maybe. Hey, we’ll all meet at the Princess!”

-

Dr. Steve Aoki, as expected, was not at his office. Louis finished his project and checked again, before heading to the site of the Princess. He reached the border and could see a couple of dozen people beyond, milling around the spacecraft.

Someone Louis recognised but couldn’t place was half-heartedly guarding the border.

“Hiya, mate,” the man said with a faint cockney accent. “Can’t go over just yet.”

“Do you know if a Dr. Steve Aoki is here?”

“Yeah!” The man looked over his shoulder and pointed. “That’s him.”

Louis knew immediately that he had seen Dr. Aoki around. He had long, very long, hair which he had tied back in a long plait down his back. Louis relaxed. Any time he had encountered Dr. Aoki, he had seemed very friendly.

“Do you need him?” 

“Oh.” Louis shrugged. “I’d like to speak to him, but only when he isn’t busy.”

“Steve!”

Dr. Aoki looked over and immediately started to trudge over. He smiled politely at the cockney man and then at Louis.

“Someone to see you,” the cockney told Dr. Aoki.

Dr. Aoki surprised Louis by easily hurdling the boundary fence. “Hi. You work in my building.”

“Yes, Sir,” Louis answered. “I’m not a scientist or anything. Just a recruiter.”

“Ah, you’re doing a very valuable job. How can I help you?”

Louis hesitated for half a second, and Dr. Aoki started to stroll away from the border. Louis followed him, grateful for the privacy.

“I heard there are free units on the Princess. Free offices?”

“Yes.”

“Um…” Louis pouted. “I was wondering what’s happening with them.”

“Well, what’s happening is this. Anybody who is interested in filling a space will apply. We’re looking for things that will contribute to the development of society. You know? And a panel will decide on the best options.”

“Okay, nice.”

“You have an idea?” Dr. Aoki asked. “Care to share?”

“Uh…” Louis scratched at the back of his head. “Well, I wanted to start up a LGBTQ centre.”

On the one hand, Louis was worried that Dr. Aoki would react in a negative manner. Then again, if he did, he was an arsehole and it would be exactly why Louis needed to create some kind of LGBTQ support system.

“Oh! Oh, that’s a fantastic idea. That’s a real community oriented concept. I like it! Very important. Pop by my office on Monday and I’ll give you a form to apply, but I will be pushing for that.”

“Seriously?” Louis huffed a huge sigh of relief. “Thank you, Sir.”

Louis practically skipped home. After his conversation with Harry, he felt like he had to do something to help any current or future queer citizens of Rumah feel safe. As he had told Harry, he didn’t think anybody was homophobic around here, but if he kicked off an active support system so early in the timeline of Rumah’s civilisation, he could not only make his mark but he could ensure that Rumah continued to be a LGBTQ-friendly society long after he was gone.

Hopefully, Dr. Aoki would be true to his word. 

-

Harry had been very impressed with Louis’ plan and agreed to help out should it come to fruition. Louis applied and, despite Dr. Aoki’s reassurances, he was nervous. The results were to be announced at the end of Princess week, which was the new name the mini-month was now christened with. 

On the Monday, there was a huge party as the Princess was officially open. Some of the facilities would be rolling out over the next few weeks or months but for now, the new chefs rolled out an Earth-themed buffet and they put on an open bar. Louis was absolutely elated with the buffet, eating what was probably his own body weight in little steak cubes and cheesy chips. Harry was eating grapes like they were going out of fashion and Niall was off somewhere stuffing his mouth with crisps.

There wasn’t a lab coat in sight and finally, _ finally  _ everybody seemed to be relaxing and having a good time. Louis went off to chat to Lucie for a bit and when he came back, Harry seemed a little tipsy. He was talking to Niall, who also seemed pretty drunk. 

“What’s going on over here, guys?” Louis asked.

“Harry’s telling me about the Kopu pissing on him last week!” Niall said.

“What?” Louis laughed. “You didn’t tell me about that.”

“They just piss!” Harry said squeakily. “Too much. Too much.”

The sun was setting. Louis turned his back on Niall and Harry to watch it slowly sink behind the rocky hills he and Harry watched the Princess arrive from. Rumah was closer to its sun than the Earth was to its own, but this one wasn’t as hot. Despite being smaller than Earth’s, it looked bigger from the surface. It had unnerved Louis for easily his first six months here.

He felt Harry’s hands on his waist.

“Hey,” Harry murmured in his ear. “You want a drink?”

“A beer would be great, thanks.”

Harry disappeared and his husky whisper was replaced with a loud, drunk Irish slurring.

“Isn’t this so bloody fantastic? It’s so fuckin’ fantastic to be here!”

Louis finally tore his eyes away from the sunset and turned around. The doctor’s cheeks were bright pink and his eyes sparkled endlessly. Louis couldn’t help but smile.

“I know.”

“It’s beautiful, and the facinities are improving, and-”

“Do you mean facilities?”

“Yeah! A swimming pool, Louis!” Niall widened his eyes in wonder. “Proper fantastic.”

Louis grinned. “We’re incredibly lucky to be here.”

Niall smiled at him stupidly and shook his head. “You’ve got it all, mate. Especially after Harry just kind of fell into your lap. We’re all too busy to meet people, really.”

Louis raised his eyebrows at Niall. “Me and Harry aren’t a couple, Niall. Don’t make it awkward.”

Niall just stared at Louis in a kind of confused speechlessness. Louis didn’t know what to do, so he just shrugged.

“I don’t…” Niall finally murmured, shaking his head in absolute consternation. “No…”

“Look what I got you!” Harry exclaimed as he approached. “Peroni!”

“No way!” Louis took the bottle and took a swig. “Ugh. Thank you. I didn’t know they brought over Earth drinks, too.”

Niall was still wearing a confused expression as Harry took his place as close to Louis as was physically possible. Okay, Louis could see how Niall might think something was going on. They were always together. They were always touching. They were ridiculously comfortable with each other.

Harry’s hand slid into the crook of Louis’ elbow just as Louis’ mind wandered to the kiss. He had to cut Harry a bit of slack. It was a difficult environment to be in, and Harry was still fairly new. Louis had been lonely before Harry came along, so he knew it wasn’t a nice feeling. It was hard to go without any kind of intimacy, especially when the job got stressful. Half the scientists had their partners with them, and besides, it was probably easy enough for the straight people to find each other and release tension.

Louis felt a ball of excited tension in his stomach. Not to toot his own horn, but the LGBTQ centre could do a lot of good. It was very important to him. 

“I’m not used to all this daytime drinking,” Harry complained. “I’m fucked.”

Louis let out a surprised giggle. “Well, if you want me to walk you home, I’m ready when you are.”

“You’ve had hardly anything to drink!”

“We’ve got all week to get pissed. I’m two years older than you, lad. I’m a grown up.”

Harry snorted loudly in amusement. “Okay.”

Louis walked him home before heading home himself. He had a feeling this would be a long, busy week, and something told him he needed to pace himself. 

-

On Tuesday, the library was officially opened by Dr. Malik and he gave a little speech about the past, present, and future of Rumah. A physicist named Dr. Rexha, who had just arrived to Rumah on the Princess, took the little makeshift stage to give an excited and dynamic presentation about the new museum she was planning to open in the town. She commanded the attention of the entire population, even after she had left the stage and was mingling in the crowd. 

Niall ran off to join the scrum of people trying to talk to her and Louis was left with Harry, who was staying as still as possible, wearing big sunglasses.

“It’s great to see a female scientist,” Louis mused. “In this day and age, it’s ridiculous that it’s still such a male-dominated field.”

“Mm,” Harry hummed. “I think it’s the ‘moving to another planet’ thing, too. I reckon they don’t think women can handle it.”

“Gross.” 

“She’s amazing!” Niall gushed as he ran back over. 

“We were just talking about how there’s not a lot of female scientists over here,” Louis told him. “And how gross it is. I mean, Lucie’s doing a great job, isn’t she?”

“Oh!” Niall said, backing away. “Bye!”

Louis looked at Harry and shook his head. “What’s with them two?”

“I think it’s obvious,” Harry replied.

“What do you know? And why haven’t you told me?”

Harry tore his sunglasses off to roll his eyes. “Believe it or not, Lucie and I don’t just sit around talking about boys. We, like, operate on animals and all that.”

Later on, the Princess held a karaoke night which was… weird. Louis’ creatives would be coming over in the new year, but for now, a mismatched bunch of more essential skilled workers were letting loose, wailing out the classics in such a manner that Louis had to leave to get another drink.

“Why can nobody on this planet sing for shit?”

Louis turned to look at the source of the American voice. Dr. Rexha.

“They’re all permanently tense from doing such serious jobs,” Louis remarked. “I’m Louis. Recruitment.”

“I’m Bebe. Physicist slash museum curator.”

“Hi. You really captured everybody earlier. And I really wanted to tell you that I’m happy to see more women scientists come over.”

Bebe glared at him. “I know. I was very loud about it for the entire journey over. I’m trying to get them to bring over an all-female team next time. In the university I worked in back in New York, the women were far more efficient.”

“Too right.”

Louis looked over his shoulder to see that Harry was taking to the stage. Oh, God.

“Do excuse me, Dr. Rexha. My best friend is about to embarrass himself.”

“Call me Bebe!” she called after Louis as he jogged off towards the stage. 

Harry introduced himself to the crowd and the intro to It’s Raining Men started to play.

“God, no.” Louis rubbed his face. “No, no, no.”

He looked around to find Niall in the crowd, and headed over to him to share the horror. Niall had pulled some kind of small camera out of somewhere and was filming, trying to stifle a laugh.

“How much has he had to drink?” Louis asked Niall.

“Not  _ that  _ much.”

Harry started to sing and Louis couldn’t help but laugh. Harry’s confidence was admirable and actually… he didn’t have a bad voice. He was the best the stage had seen tonight, certainly. He was swaying in time to the music, punctuated with the occasional kick or fist pump in the air. The crowd seemed to love it, and Harry was having a good time. Louis suddenly felt like he was home.

As the song came to an end, Louis clapped and cheered and whooped, and he made his way to the side of the stage as Harry stepped down. He pulled him into a tight hug.

“God, you were great.” Louis laughed. “You have fun?”

“I’m gonna regret this in the morning.”

Louis pulled away and smirked. “Don’t worry. Niall filmed the whole thing.”

Harry groaned, but he couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face. Louis took his hand and pulled him over to where Niall was standing, chatting to some people Louis didn’t recognise.

“Mate!” Niall said before laughing. “What the fuck was that? You’re awesome.”

They hung around for a little while, during which Harry soaked up a fair amount of amused praise before asking Louis to walk him home. The Princess had brought over one hundred pay-as-you-ride bicycles, and they would be unveiled on Thursday. Louis couldn’t wait. He would save so much time.

“You wanna come in?” Harry asked. Louis opened his mouth to respond but Harry rolled his eyes and interrupted. “Not to drink! Just for company.”

“Oh, go on then. If you need me so badly.”

Harry chuckled as they went inside. “Alright, calm down. Wednesday… what’s tomorrow?”

“Wednesday.”

Harry scoffed. “You know what I mean.”

“The gym is opening. Sports day.”

“That doesn’t sound like there will be a lot of drinking.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Well, you would find any excuse. Besides, there’s a barbecue in the evening.”

“Yes!” Harry sighed happily. “That’s gonna be great, I bet.”

Louis agreed with Harry, who started to yawn.

“You invited me inside to hang out, but by the looks of it, you’re gonna struggle to keep your eyes open before long.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Harry shook his head, blinking his eyes wide open. “Let’s hang out.”

“Aw, it’s alright. Go to bed. I’ll stay if you want. I’ll take the sofa.”

“No, no. I’m happy on the sofa.”

“Harry, no.”

“Well, this is where I’m sleeping.” Harry plopped down onto the sofa. “Unless you’re gonna sleep on top of me…”

Harry tilted his head, folded his arms and smirked. Louis laughed, shaking his head.

“Oh my God! Go to bed.”

-

Sports day was a lot of fun. Harry perfectly demonstrated his clumsiness during a game of football, and Niall proved to be a formidable opponent for Louis. Bebe was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and therefore presumably off duty, so Louis got her to join in. Some others who happened past dipped in and out to kick the ball about and, by the time the barbecue started, Louis was exhausted and had a handful of names and faces to remember.

He stuffed his face and decided to head home early. Harry decided to stay, so Louis headed straight home on his own. In the previous years he had been here for Princess week - formerly known simply as ‘summer holiday’ - he had spent the majority of the time either working from home or in the hot springs, unwinding.

Maybe he should bring Harry back tomorrow for a dip.

As soon as Louis got inside, he heard his phone ringing. He quickly kicked his shoes off and hurried to answer it.

“Tomlinson, society.”

_ “Hiya, mate. It’s Zayn.” _

“Hi. Everything okay?”

_ “Yeah, yeah. I tried to find you, but Harry told me you’d already come home. I’m afraid I’ve been working today, don’t tell anyone. I wanted to ask you if yourself and Harry would be interested in going on an expedition in a couple of weeks.” _

“Sure!” Louis answered immediately. “Wait, what is it? I don’t think Harry would wanna go into space again.”

Zayn laughed.  _ “No, no. Nothing like that. It’s a trip out of bounds, maybe to a coastline.” _

“Ooh! That would be incredible!”

_ “They might want to put you to work while you’re there, but it should be good fun. I didn’t mention it to Harry since you were my contact for the application, but speak to him, let me know first thing if he isn’t up for it. Otherwise, I’ll process it as confirmation.” _

“Thank you, Zayn.”

-

Thursday saw the launch of the first form of civilian transport on the planet. Louis managed to bag a bike and he absolutely delighted in riding it around the place. He hoped one day he would be able to have his very own bike, but for now, sharing was enough. Harry grabbed one, too, and they cycled away from the crowd before stopping to lay on a patch of grass.

“So,” Louis started. “Me and you are going on another trip! Not into space, don’t worry.”

Harry sat up abruptly. “Seriously?! Where are we going?”

“Not sure, but definitely out of the boundary.”

Harry gasped happily. Louis thought about the fact that tomorrow was Friday, and they would be revealing what the space offices on the Princess would be used for. Louis knew what Dr. Aoki said, but what if it fell through? What if he was overruled? What if the powers that be didn’t want a safe space for their LGBTQ citizens?

They got back on their bikes and returned to the Princess. There was some kind of presentation about the future of transport on Rumah going on in the library, but Louis didn’t fancy it. Instead, he and Harry went to the cafe. It was quiet, which was just as well because it looked like only one person was working.

“Hi,” the harassed-looking woman greeted as they walked in. “Take a seat, I’ll be over in a minute.”

They sat down and Harry sighed. He had been a bit quiet.

“I’m exhausted,” he told Louis. “I thought this was supposed to be a week’s holiday? They’ve kept us so busy.”

“Mm, I know.” Louis shrugged. “Well, don’t have to go back.”

“I feel like we’re sort of obligated to be there, no?”

“No, of course not. Anyway, in reality, who’s gonna notice we’re gone? Really?”

Louis was elated to see that jacket potato was on today’s menu. In fact, it was one of the only things on the menu.

“Sorry,” the woman who brought their menus said. “I’m on my own and there’s not much in.”

“Please don’t apologise,” Louis said with a grin. “Can I have a jacket potato with cheese and beans, please?”

She sighed with what seemed like relief. “Of course.”

“Same, please,” Harry said.

She scuttled off to the kitchen to prepare their food and Louis leaned back and swung on the back legs of his chair.

“Let’s not go back, then.” Louis shrugged. “Let’s go to mine and get pissed. Or we  _ could _ head back, go to the bar, and start the process.”

Harry smirked, playing with the salt shaker. “So, what you’re saying is you wanna get pissed.”

“I’m just kind of tired of being around people.”

Harry nodded. “Alright. We’ll go to yours.”

They ate their early dinner and Louis promised to feed Harry later on. They walked back and Louis cracked open a bottle of wine.

“You don’t have a hot spring at your place, do you?” Louis asked.

“Nope.”

“We should get in! You’d love it. It’s basically a hot tub.”

“Great!” Harry kicked his trainers off and pulled his t-shirt over his head. “I could do with an excuse to relax.”

“Exactly! Do you wanna borrow some trunks- oh!” Louis was startled as Harry pulled his boxers straight off. “Okay.”

“You don’t mind, do you? I prefer it.” Harry put his hands on his hips. “All your colleagues are out at the Princess, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Harry picked up his wine glass. “Lead the way.”

Louis grabbed them both towels and led Harry out to the communal garden. It was highly unusual for them to be there during the day in Princess week, so he had no worries of his colleagues coming home and taking them by surprise. He didn’t get the impression Harry would mind, but his colleagues might.

Harry tiptoed over to the hot spring and stuck a finger into the water. He must have deemed it acceptable because he climbed up the tiny rocky ledge and splashed into the water.

“Ooh! Lovely!”

Louis dropped the towels by the edge of the spring and started to undress. He considered stripping completely for a split second, but adjusted the waistband of his boxers and climbed into the spring.

“So, if this volcanic rock is poisonous to our bodies, how come bathing in this is okay?”

“Do I look like a scientist?” Louis asked lightly as he closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the rock. “I don’t know, but the minerals do wonders for the skin.”

Harry prodded Louis’ leg with his toe. “Hey, can we smoke tonight?”

Louis cracked open one eye. “We shouldn’t. It’s hard to get hold of. It’s more of a special occasion thing.”

Harry smiled. “Hm? Maybe tomorrow, then.”

Louis laughed quietly. “Okay. Maybe tomorrow. Tonight is for getting drunk.”

They stayed in the spring until they had finished their glasses of wine, and Louis tried to politely avert his eyes when Harry climbed out and wrapped a towel around his waist.

“Should I wash this off?” Harry asked, rubbing a hand across his stomach. “I feel kinda… silty.”

“No, leave it on. I promise, when you shower in the morning you’ll feel amazing.”

Harry hummed and turned to walk off. Louis jumped out of the spring, grabbing a towel and following in his wake.

“I think I want a beer, now.”

“Why don’t you dry off and I’ll bring you one?”

Louis rolled his eyes. “What? You’re the guest.”

“Go.”

Two minutes later, Louis had just pulled on some joggers when there was a knock at his bedroom door and Harry walked in, carrying a glass of wine and a cold beer.

“Wouldn’t it be lovely to sit and watch a film right now?”

Louis grinned and sat on his bed. “I heard they’re gonna start manufacturing TVs next month. Until they have a broadcasting system, there’s not much point.”

“Well, we need a broadcasting system.” Harry handed Louis his beer and sat down next to him. “What if there’s some kind of emergency?”

“I think they have some kind of mass telephoning system for emergencies.”

“We’re quite behind in basic civilian technology, here,” Harry mused.

“We are with non-essential things. You have to remember that you’re a civilian, but you’re a very, very early civilian. We don’t even have a government yet, a leader. That tells you that the people in charge don’t see us as a society, not yet.” 

“We’re still developing.”

“Yup.”

Harry nodded before grinning. “This got very serious all of a sudden. Let’s talk about something else. What do you think some of the other unit spaces on the Princess might be?”

“Hmm.” Louis shuffled back against his headboard and Harry did the same. “Probably more bored spouses starting up small businesses.”

“Maybe someone will open a sex shop.”

“You really aren’t letting the vibrator thing go, are you?”

Harry cackled. “No! No, I’m not. Maybe your LGBTQ centre can double as a sex shop?”

“Not really the type of thing I was going for to be honest, Harry.”

Harry put his glass of wine on Louis’ bedside table and turned his body to face him.

“Can I ask you a question? A personal one. You don’t have to answer.”

“Go on.”

“When did you last have sex?”

Louis snapped his head around to look at Harry and he raised his eyebrows. It was indeed a very personal question, but he didn’t have any reason not to answer. He knew, anyway, that Harry wasn’t just asking to be nosy.

“God. Well, it was back home. So, a good few years now.”

“That long?” Harry asked with awe. “Wow. You’ve not found anyone out here?”

“Nope. You’re the first person who has made it clear to me that you’re not straight.”

Harry laid his head down on the pillow, looking up at Louis curiously. “So, was it like a goodbye thing, or…”

Louis sighed, placing his beer on the table and sliding down to lay next to Harry.

“Not particularly, but I knew I was coming here so I kind of knew it was probably going to be my last shag for a long time.” Louis shrugged. “Maybe even ever.”

“Oh, don’t be silly.”

“Well, Simon had made it pretty clear he didn’t want gay people out here.”

“Do you miss it?”

Louis let out a little laugh. “I guess. At the beginning, I was just so busy, and tired, and ill. And when you’re not going out or seeing couples everywhere, it’s not so bad. Don’t you think?”

Harry pouted and shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m struggling. Quite a bit at times.”

“Yeah?”

“I dunno, maybe it’s just intimacy I miss.”

Louis put his arm across Harry’s shoulders and Harry leaned into him. He laid his head on Louis’ chest as Louis slipped his fingers into Harry’s curls.

“We’re gonna build our community, yeah?” Louis scratched at Harry’s scalp. “Even if tomorrow doesn’t give us the result we want. We’ll use my bloody flat if we have to. In fact, that’s exactly what we’ll do.”

“Okay.” Harry let out a little contented moan as Louis stroked his hair. “You’re the best.”

“Hm. We’re not exactly getting drunk, are we?”

Harry laughed and sat up. “No. We should definitely get drunk.”

They sat up and resumed their drinking. Louis found a pack of cards and they played for an hour before Harry announced he was hungry. Louis made them sandwiches and they sat outside under the stars to eat.

“I need to remember to bring my camera round so I can put the pictures of our trip to space on your computer.”

“Oh, yeah!” 

“There’s a really nice one of you. Beautiful. You look so happy.”

Louis turned to look at Harry. He was gazing at the sky as if he was looking for something. Louis wondered if he was looking for home again, despite knowing there wasn’t any way he was able to see it. Would Harry ever stop looking for home?

“I’m gonna get another beer. You want a drink?”

“Hm, no.” Harry held his glass out to Louis. “Don’t feel like getting drunk anymore.”

“You sure?” Louis smiled sweetly. “Alcohol numbs the pain.”

“Shut up,” Harry said softly with a smile. 

“Be right back.”

Louis headed into the kitchen and pulled the fridge open. Did he fancy wine? Maybe he shouldn’t have another drink if Harry wasn’t. 

“Um…”

Louis jumped out of his skin and he spun around. “Harry, you gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry. I came to get some water.”

Louis watched Harry grab a glass and run the tap for a few seconds before filling up.

“Haz?”

“Huh?”

“You seem a bit sad.”

Harry swigged from his glass until it was two-thirds empty. He exhaled and put the glass on the counter.

“Same old story.”

“What?”

“I’ll be having fun here, getting on with it, then out of nowhere I get homesick. And I know if I keep drinking, I’ll spiral to somewhere I really don’t want to be.”

“I get it. Shall we call it a night? We have to be up early, anyway.”

Harry nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”

Louis took Harry’s hand and led him into the bedroom. After a split second of hesitation, Harry stripped to his boxers and climbed into bed next to Louis.

-

Louis woke up and was startled to see Harry laying next to him, staring at him.

“Morning.”

“Freak,” Louis muttered.

“Can I have a cuddle?”

Louis just grunted and wiggled closer. They curled up together and Louis closed his eyes again.

“What’s the time?” Louis asked.

“We have to get up in twenty minutes.”

“Mm, twenty minutes of cuddle time.”

Louis sighed. They were both in their boxers and his head was laying on Harry’s chest. The room was a bit warm, and Harry was starting to smell slightly sweaty. It made Louis smile. He could almost forget that he was on Rumah, right now. He could be back in his flat in London, waking up wrapped in the arms of some cute boy he had brought home. His mother would be mere hours away, and he could have jumped into his car to go and get himself a McDonald’s breakfast.

Instead, he was wrapped in the arms of his best friend, thinking he might treat himself to some toast, which he would have to make on the grill. That was the thing about Rumah. Some things Louis had taken for granted were just… missing over here. As if somebody just forgot to invent it. Toasters. Mobile phones. Microwaves.

Vibrators, some might say.

Harry was gently stroking Louis’ back and it was so soothing that Louis worried he would fall back asleep. He groaned, flipping onto his front and looking up at Harry.

“I’m nervous.”

Harry’s face broke into a grin. “Don’t be nervous, Lou. It’s an exciting day!”

Louis scoffed. “Yeah.”

“Louis.” Harry smiled softly and ran the back of his finger over Louis’ cheek. “I really don’t think you have anything to worry about. If they don’t give you the space, we’ll hold meetings, here or at my place. It might just be me and you there…”

Louis laughed. “Yeah.”

“But we’ll be here for anyone who needs us. You don’t need to place so much importance on the unit itself. You came up with a wonderful idea, which is the main thing.”

Louis sighed and rolled onto his side. “I know. You’re right. Thank you.”

Harry smiled again and pushed the hair out of Louis’ eyes. “You’re gonna change the world, you know. This world.”

“Not on my own, I’m not.”

Harry leaned in and Louis instinctually closed his eyes as Harry kissed him, sweet and meaningful, before pulling away and wearing a rather dumb expression. Louis studied him for a few seconds.

“Well,” Louis said quietly. “Can’t explain that one away with being high.”

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes closed. “Uh… I think I should go and shower.”

Harry quickly slipped out of bed and disappeared. Louis sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He implored himself not to begin overthinking, but were things starting to get complicated? He hadn’t even thought of Harry in that way, had never thought of  _ anybody _ that way since he arrived. And besides, Louis didn’t know if Harry was just seeking comfort or if it was more personal than that. 

Stop overthinking.  _ Stop overthinking. _

Louis got out of bed and headed for the kitchen. He put the kettle on to boil before switching the grill on and waiting for it to heat up.

If he was honest, he was looking forward to the weekend. In fact, he was even looking forward to going back to work. Next year’s Princess week would probably be a lot more chill, but this one had been exhausting. Dr. Aoki would be announcing the results of the ballot at 10am, and Louis would find out if he was granted a space to run a fully official, sanctioned LGBTQ support centre. He hadn’t even thought about what he would, in reality, do if he was given the space. What was the plan? Hosting events? Meetings? Painting rainbows all over the place? Where the heck would he get paint from?

Louis clutched at his cheeks. He had a big task ahead of him. Lucky that he wasn’t fond of days off.

“What’s the matter?”

Louis jerked out of his trance and looked at Harry.

“I was just thinking about the fact I haven’t a fucking clue what I’ll do if I get the space.”

Harry grinned. “Easy to kick start it. Put a sign on the door detailing the hours you’ll be there and your phone number. Turn up at those times and have the door open while you read a book or something. Put notices up in offices and stuff.”

“Okay, thanks.” Louis smiled. “So, you’re gonna help me, is what you’re saying?”

Harry pulled himself up onto the counter. “I will if you make me some toast.”

-

They didn’t talk about the kiss, and Louis took his seat in the third row of the cinema auditorium with Harry sat beside him. Louis had only managed to nearly finish one slice of toast. It was stupid. He knew he didn’t need to be so nervous. He just wanted a good chance to make a difference. Harry was right when he said this could change the world. This world.

Dr. Aoki took to the stage and Louis’ heart fell into his arse.

“Hello everybody,” Dr. Aoki said with what sounded like a sigh. He must have had such a busy week. “Welcome to this presentation by the Rumah Development Programme. We have had twenty-seven applications to fill five empty offices, previously occupied by flight crew. Today, we will announce which five applications have been successful.”

“Those odds aren’t wonderful,” Louis muttered to Harry, who shushed him.

“All the applications were just fantastic,” Aoki continued. “We had to find a way to narrow it down. This time, we eliminated applications for businesses, as we decided that social services were a priority. We are planning on building a block for businesses so, please, if you applied to run a business, keep your eyes open.

“Let’s get down to it. In office 311… Doctor Sandy Rickard with counselling services.”

Louis started to clap, and turned to nod appreciatively at Harry.

“In office 320. Leigh-Anne Pinnock, nutrition and wellbeing centre.” Aoki paused for applause. “Office 324, Thomas Thiang with life skills classes.”

“Fuck,” Louis whispered. “Fuck.”

“Office 341… Louis Tomlinson, LGBTQ centre.”

Polite applause rippled through the auditorium, but Louis yelled out and grabbed Harry, pulling him into a hug. 

“I fucking told ya!” Harry giggled into Louis’ ear. “Well done, love.”

Louis was too buzzed to properly hear the last one, but it was something to do with music. Dr. Aoki continued to speak and Louis did his best to settle and listen.

“In addition, there will be a unit for Rumah and space education, and another for sexual and intimate health. Thank you for coming. If the successful applicants could stay behind and we’ll go through some essentials. Thank you.”

Louis wouldn’t let Harry leave, insisting that he was part of the whole thing. He regretted that he didn’t put Harry’s name on the application, if he was honest.

Dr. Aoki talked them through some rules and procedures, before Louis was sent on his way with a key card in hand, and he and Harry headed straight to office 341. Louis opened the door and found a small desk, chair, and rubbish bin. The door stayed open on its own, so he left it ajar and sat in the desk chair.

“This is so exciting.”

Harry pushed his hands into his pockets and looked around. He chewed on his lip as he observed.

“We need to hold an event,” he mused. “Something to draw people in. Something to give people an incentive to visit.”

“We’ll think on it,” Louis said as he pulled open a drawer in the desk. “Oh my God! Stationary!”

Harry hurried to Louis’ side to peer into the drawer. “Ooh, cool! Make your sign!”

So Louis made a quick hand-written sign baring his phone number and the information that he would be here 10-4 on Saturday and Sunday. He could make some fun posters tomorrow that he could put up on notice boards and such, but for now, he and Harry wanted to celebrate.

They left the office and, as they walked towards the exit of the ship, Dr. Aoki accosted them.

“Louis! Congratulations.”

“Thank you so much, Sir. I cannot tell you how much this means. This is Harry, he’ll be running the centre with me.”

“Hello, Harry. It’s wonderful to meet you. Louis, I was wondering if you - or, indeed, either of you - would like to give a small speech about the things you hope to achieve. Miss Pinnock is speaking now, then Mr Thiang is up. I would like you to go after him, if you’re up to it.”

Louis turned to Harry. “You have much more of a vision than me. Would you like to do it?”

“Lou, it’s your baby. It’s not about the vision. It’s about the intent. Just speak what’s in your heart.”

Louis blinked before nodding. “Alright. God, I’m gonna have to make it up on the spot.”

“Two, three minutes, tops,” Aoki reassured him. 

“Will you at least stand up there next to me?” Louis asked Harry.

“Of course I will.”

So, after Thomas Thiang finished telling what was a fairly small crowd about his life skills classes, Louis and Harry took to the stage. Lights were trained on Louis which meant he couldn’t really see the crowd, which he was somewhat grateful for.

“Hello,” he started awkwardly. “My name is Louis Tomlinson. This is Mr. Harry Styles, and together, we will be running the LGBTQ centre over in office 341.”

He glanced to his right and Harry gave him a barely perceptible nod.

“The settling of this planet, this colonisation, has given way to the creation of a society. Science, and the people who study it, have done wonders for the human race. But now, it is up to all of us to build the community. Dr. Aoki’s allocating of these free spaces to those of us who wish to contribute to the community is practically life-changing for everybody.

“Each one of us has experienced the stress of travelling on this very ship, many of us travelling alone. For me, it was… isolating. Lonely. I began to realise that, for some of us, that feeling remained, even after we landed and began to make friends. The LGBTQ centre will be a lifeline to those who spent a long time finding their place in their community back home. There is a community for you here. Friends to talk to. A safe space. You needn’t feel isolated any longer. You deserve to be open and free.”

Louis took a tiny step back and the crowd applauded. He let out a breath of relief. Just as he turned towards Harry to make his way off the stage, Harry stepped up to the microphone.

“We’ll be open from twelve tomorrow, but you can talk to us - either of us - at any time. About anything. We’re here for you. There will be weekly notices posted outside the centre and on all notice boards around town detailing our events. Come along, meet some people. Have fun. Thank you.”

They left the stage and Louis pulled Harry into a hug.

“Gosh. That was nerve wracking.”

“You were amazing. That speech was incredible.”

“I need a drink.”

They headed to the bar to celebrate. It wasn’t even lunchtime yet, but Louis didn’t care. They drank for an hour, before pausing to eat at the buffet. Every single thing that was fit for consumption on Rumah was available: several varieties of Kopu cheese, specialist bread, even some Kopu meat. Harry and Louis filled their plates with a mountain of food and found somewhere quiet to sit.

“I overheard one of the chefs say she wants to open a seafood restaurant.”

“There’s so much potential, or so I hear. The ocean’s so far away, that’s the main problem.”

“Mm.” Harry picked up a slice of Kopu meat and bit into it. As he chewed, he pulled a face. “Fuck. Yeah, that’s not the best tasting meat.”

“You know what, I’ve never tried it.”

Harry smirked. “Seriously? Well, you’d better try it.”

Louis hesitated, but took the slice of meat with a bite out of it from Harry’s hand and dug his teeth into it. As he chewed, he pulled a face which was probably similar to Harry’s.

“It’s… not  _ awful.” _

“It is,” Harry said with a grin. “Don’t lie.”

The sun was out, and it was actually a little warmer than normal, and fluctuations were unusual for Rumah. It was a pleasant feeling, the warmth on Louis’ skin. 

“I wonder if it’s warmer towards the equator.”

Louis hummed. “I think it is. Not hugely.”

“We going back to the bar after lunch?”

“Dunno. What do you wanna do?”

They grabbed a drink from the bar and went off in exploration of the Princess. They had both lived on here for weeks on end, but areas that were off limits back then were now free for them to roam through. There was a small crowd waiting to catch a glimpse of the cockpit. Louis would get to that later. 

A lot of the different types of control rooms were gutted. Some were being used for other scientific purposes that Louis didn’t understand, or for storage. They found themselves in front of Louis’ new office and they cheered, the alcohol dizzying them somewhat.

“You know what? I think that-”

Louis was interrupted by what sounded like a distant siren. He and Harry looked at each other.

“Shit.” Harry shook his head. “That doesn’t sound good.”

The PA system on the Princess crackled to life.

_ “Attention, attention. This is an emergency. A storm is about to hit. Please take shelter immediately until further notice.” _

Louis quickly pulled his key card out and opened the door.

“A storm?” Harry said, wringing his hands. “But we don’t get storms here.”

“Well, remember those dark clouds we saw from space?”

Harry sighed and sat in the chair. “Do you think we’re safe in here?”

“To be honest, I think we’re safer in here that we would’ve been at home. This ship is built to withstand a lot.”

There was a small outer window in the office, and it didn’t take long for the sky to turn dark. Louis sat on the floor behind the desk.

“I hope this isn’t too bad.”

“I hope it doesn’t last long. I’m hungry.”

“Harry.” Louis shook his head. “You just ate shit loads of bread and cheese and meat.”

_ “Attention, attention. This is Dr. Steve Aoki, Director of the Princess. Okay, here’s the deal. The storm looks moderate, but since storms are so rare here, we have no idea of its true severity or the other dangers it could pose. We’re keeping everybody inside as a precaution. We’re expecting the storm to pass within a few hours, so sit tight and hopefully we’ll get everybody home tonight. If the storm doesn’t turn out so bad, we may be able to invite you out to use the facilities. Please, only leave the room you are in if it is absolutely necessary. Thank you.” _

A few specks of rain hit the window. Louis stood to his feet and looked out.

“This is only, like, the third time I’ve seen rain here.”

Harry stood too, and watched the rain from behind Louis. It grew heavier, creating pools of water in the volcanic rock outside and Louis wished Harry had his camera.

“Right,” Louis said, dropping back down to the floor. “I’m going to have a nap.”

Harry pouted sadly. “Oh.”

“Unless you wanna play hangman for the next four hours, I suggest you try to sleep, too.”

Harry bit his lip and sat on the floor. He pulled his jumper off and balled it up, placing it on the floor before laying his head on it. He frowned with dissatisfaction, and Louis rolled his eyes and pulled off his own jumper.

“How about you use both jumpers for a pillow and I use you as mine?”

-

Louis awoke with a start at a crack of thunder. Lightning flashed and he groaned. The rain was still hammering away at the window and he estimated they had probably been asleep for a couple of hours.

Harry was still asleep and Louis quietly stood up to look out the window. To his surprise, he saw somebody outside. They had some kind of long, spindly instrument and Louis assumed - hoped - they were some kind of scientist.

The PA system crackled yet again. 

_ “Alrighty, guys. You can all come out of wherever you’ve barricaded yourselves in, but please don’t attempt to leave the Princess. The bar will not be serving alcohol at this time.” _

“Aww.”

Louis looked down at Harry, who was awake and pouting.

“Sorry you can’t continue to get pissed,” Louis replied in amusement.

“Well.” Harry stood to his feet and stretched his arms above his head. “At least we can go for a walk.”

They strolled around, but most interesting places were crowded. Everybody who was milling around outside had been brought in and so about half the population of the planet were crammed into the spaceship. 

It was another two hours until they were let out. It was an unusual experience. The air smelt strange, and everything was far more vibrant now that it wasn’t covered in a sheer layer of dust. The ground was very slippery and Harry and Louis walked away from the Princess very carefully, giggling every time the other slipped.

“Let’s go to mine,” Harry said. “We always go to yours. Let me host you for once.”

-

As disappointed as Dr. Aoki and some of the others probably were that Princess week celebrations had ended on such a damp note, Louis was kind of pleased. Okay, so maybe Louis was boring, but a quiet night in with Harry was all he really wanted. Louis headed home as night turned to morning, and Harry promised to see him tomorrow.

As it happened, Louis turned up at the centre at 9am, armed with cakes from the cafe. He fetched himself a sandwich for lunch, too, and he threw the goods on his desk and put his hands on his hips.

“One chair.” He pouted. “Hmm.”

Nobody else was around and so he had to make do. He dragged the chair around to face his desk and sat in it. If somebody came in, he would just have to surrender the chair and sit on the desk. Or stand. 

He ate his sandwich, clutching it in his left hand as he scribbled  _ Members _ at the top of a piece of paper, followed by  _ Louis Tomlinson - co-founder - 062412,  _ and  _ Harry Styles - co-founder - 430102. _

He threw the pen on the desk and sighed. Now what? Harry would be here soon, he supposed. This was always going to be a waiting game at the beginning, and Louis didn’t mind. Not really. 

He pouted and looked out the window. He wondered what his mother was doing right now. Louis had to refer to a computer program to find out what date and time it was on Earth. The different length of years and days was just too confusing for him to work out on his own.

No matter what she was doing, she would probably think of Louis at some point today. Was she worried? Was she sad?

-

_ Louis was shaking as he put the key into the lock. He was absolutely dreading this visit. How could he possibly do this? He was about to break his poor mother’s heart. _

_ “I’m home,” he called through the house. _

_ His mum emerged from the kitchen, drying her hands on a teatowel and beaming. _

_ “Darling!” She approached and threw her arms around him. “It’s so good to see you.” _

_ “You too, Mum.” _

_ She pulled away and frowned at him. “I can’t believe you moved to London and left me. Still, every time you pop home, it’s an absolute joy.” _

_ Louis’ heart gave a nasty jolt. This was impossible. _

_ “Um, so… where are all the kids?” _

_ “School,” she said, leading Louis through to the kitchen. “It’s not even three yet.” _

_ “Oh.” Louis’ stomach churned so badly that he thought he would throw up. “Mum, we need to have a chat.” _

_ “Is everything okay?” she replied quickly. _

_ “Yeah. Well.” Louis took a deep breath. “Can we go through to the living room?” _

_ They headed through and Louis sat on the sofa. His mum sat in the armchair, upright and wringing her hands. _

_ “Spit it out, then.” _

_ “They’ve asked me to relocate for work.” _

_ Louis’ mum deflated right in front of his eyes. The disappointment was palpable.  _

_ “Again?” She smiled sadly. “I’m guessing it’s somewhere far.” _

_ “There really isn’t any easy way to say this, Mum.” Louis clenched his eyes shut. “They want me to go over and work… on location.” _

_ “Wh- I don’t know what you’re saying. NASA?” _

_ Louis kept eye contact with her, now. “The planet, Mum. They want me to move to HADLEY 24-C4DR.” _

_ She stared at him in disbelief. “Oh. So… for how long? You’ll be gone for years, won’t you?” _

_ “Well, it’s a difficult journey, and…” He looked down at the floor. “They don’t tend to bring people back.” _

_ When he looked back up at his mum, her eyes were filled to the brim with unshed tears.  _

_ “So, you…” She blinked and tears spilled onto her cheeks. “You’ll go, and you’ll never come back.” _

_ “It’s unlikely that I’ll come back, yeah.” _

_ “You- you can’t go.” She shook her head adamantly. “It’s dangerous. You told me! You have to travel through a wormhole and it’s unsafe. You told me that.” _

_ “There are risks involved, for sure. But it’s getting a lot safer, they’ve not lost a craft in ages.” _

_ Louis’ mum glared at him with such disappointment that his stomach turned yet again.  _

_ “Well,” she said thickly through her tears. “I’m sure there’s nothing I can do to change your mind.” _

_ “Mum.” Louis stood up and placed himself on the arm of the chair. “If you really, really don’t want me to go, I won’t. You know I won’t.” _

_ She finally burst into tears and leaned into him. He knew that she wouldn’t ask him to stay. It would hurt the entire family, but she would let him go. She wasn’t one to hold her children back, even if it meant losing Louis for good. _

_ - _

Louis would never forget the sound of his mother crying. Of his sisters crying. His grandparents.

He could only hope that the money he sent home was somewhat of a comfort. They were paid well for living and working on Rumah, and they had to pay for hardly anything. Louis sent his family fifty percent of his salary. 

Louis rested his chin on his palm. Just as he was wondering if he could get away with a cheeky nap, he heard a noise behind him and he quickly looked over his shoulder.

“Hello!”

“Hiya,” Louis said to Harry with a smile. “You alright?”

Harry nodded. “Any visitors?”

“Nope.”

“It’s the first day,” Harry said soothingly. “So, what have you been up to?”

“Daydreaming. Oh.” Louis held up a piece of paper. “Made a member list.”

“Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles.” Harry nodded. “Extensive.”

“I hope someone comes,” Louis said. “If just one person comes today, or this weekend, even, it’ll already all be worth it.”

“Someone will come. I’d bet on it. Everything I have.”

“That doesn’t help because you have, like, three things. And they’re the same three things everybody else has.”

“Shut up! I-”

“Hello?”

Harry and Louis both swiveled to look at the door. Niall poked his cheery face around the door and knocked.

“Niall, hi. Come in.”

Niall stared around at the blank walls and nodded. “I, uh, love what you’ve done with the place.”

“Source me some paint and a high quality printing service and I’m set.”

“I’ll ask around about the paint, but Zayn would be able to get you access to some okay-ish printing.”

“Thanks!” Louis glanced at Harry and then back to Niall. “So, is this a social visit, or…”

The cheery smile melted from Niall’s face. “Oh, I just thought I’d come and see what you’ve got going here.”

“Well, as you’ve so shrewdly observed, we’ve not got much going on in a physical sense. We’re just here at the moment if anybody needs to talk or meet people.”

“We’ll have some fun events, soon,” Harry piped up. “We’ve got a members list here, if you, um, wanted us to keep you up to date with that stuff.”

“Okay.”

Louis beamed at Harry as Niall wrote his name down along with his phone number. 

“I’ll pop by in the week,” Niall said awkwardly, raising his palm and making a quick exit.

Louis turned to Harry with his eyebrows raised.

“I did not expect that.”

Harry was trying to stifle a smile. “You see? I don’t think that was easy for him. But he did it.”

Harry and Louis spent the majority of the time chatting. They had three more people swing by to say hello, and two signed up to their little member list. 

The next day, they made their way to the office together and, when they got inside, Harry turned to Louis with a stupid grin on his face.

“I’ve got something for you. Well, for us.”

“Oh?”

“Um… I hope you appreciate the kind of gesture this is and how hard it is for me to part with it.”

Harry opened the little backpack he had brought with him - Louis had teased him because it looked empty and pointless - and pulled out a rainbow flag. Louis heard himself gasp.

“Oh, Harry.”

“Where should we put it?” Harry asked with a smile, holding the flag delicately. “On the door? Up at the window? On the wall?”

“Let’s hang it on the wall. I wouldn’t want to block the outside window, but we should definitely get something to cover the window in the door. Maybe if we can get some paints we can paint a rainbow to put over it. Just in case anybody wants to chat in private. In fact, we should make a ‘busy’ sign, too.”

Harry nodded, folding his arms. “Ooh, good idea.”

“Harry? Thank you.”

Not long after they proudly hung the flag, people started to filter in and the both of them became occupied with chatting. Louis and Harry didn’t stop. Neither of them had any lunch and Niall had to bring them cups of tea three times. Somewhere in Louis’ busy mind, he vowed to source a kettle from somewhere. He was British, and the British couldn’t solve problems without doing it over a cup of tea. 

As they inched towards the time Louis had said he would close, people started to leave and when the office was finally empty, Louis closed the door and collapsed in the chair.

“I am… exhausted.”

Harry propped himself against the edge of the desk. “I think it’s fair to say this weekend was a success.”

“I need a drink. Reckon the bar’s still open?”

“Probably. Look, stay here. I’ll go fetch us some drinks and bring them back. You don’t have to move a muscle.”

“Aww,” Louis said with a grin. “Thank you.”

Harry returned with what looked like two Cokes and Louis looked at him, unimpressed.

“Seriously? Coke?”

Harry scoffed and handed it to him. Louis took a sip and winced.

“Fuck, that’s strong.”

“It is when you’re just expecting Coke.”

“That’s strong when you’re expecting floor cleaner.”

Harry rolled his eyes and sipped from his own glass.

“So. What are we doing in the week? A couple of hours in the evening?”

“I suppose so,” Louis mused. 

“You wanna split it?”

“Hm, maybe we should do this week together. See how busy it is. After today, especially.”

“Okay,” Harry said with a shrug. “Fine by me.”

Louis smiled and sighed. “I think we made a difference, Haz.”

“I’m very proud of you, you know.” Harry took Louis’ drink from his hand and placed both of their glasses on the desk. He put an arm around Louis’ neck and slid onto his lap. “This was your baby.”

“You inspired it, Harry.” Louis put his arm around Harry’s waist. “I hated that you might have felt like you weren’t wanted here. We had each other, but I really didn’t like the idea that there might have been others out there who felt uncomfortable here.” Louis smiled softly. “You deserve just as much credit.”

“I’m so glad you emailed me.”

“When?”

Harry smirked softly. “When you recruited me, silly.”

“Right, right.” Louis tightened his arm around Harry’s waist. “Well, I had to. I was very impressed.”

“And I’m yet to paint a single painting.”

“Yeah. In fact, you owe me one.”

Harry just smiled down at Louis. He looked truly happy for the first time. Maybe it was because he finally felt like he had a purpose. Yes, he did a vital job on the planet, but it wasn’t what he had applied to do. He had wanted to leave the veterinary business all behind.

Harry’s hand found itself onto Louis’ cheek and he leaned down to kiss him. It was wonderfully tender, and Louis found himself pulling Harry closer. Harry pulled away slightly and smiled.

For the first time, Harry moved in for a second kiss. It wasn’t that Louis hadn’t liked the previous times that Harry had kissed him, but he found himself surprised by how much he was enjoying it. Harry was slow, unrushed, and Louis felt the old familiar rush of excitement that he had yet to experience on this planet.

Harry pulled away again and had the courtesy to look embarrassed, a furious blush on his cheeks, but was wearing a huge grin.

“I’m really sorry.”

Louis shook his head. “No. Please don’t be sorry.”

Harry stood up and took a deep breath. He held his hand out to help Louis up.

“Walk me home?”

They walked home in relative silence, hand in hand. Louis was in serious danger of overthinking, but right now, his brain was full of cotton wool, fogging his mind from any kind of coherent thought. The only thing he could really think was  _ so, this is a thing. _

He dropped Harry home and, with a quick peck, they parted ways.

-

The LGBTQ centre was a certified hit. Harry and Louis held many events: bake sales, activity days, and even a group trip to the cinema when they were showing Grease. Louis was tired, it was definitely worth it.

He and Harry shared the burden of manning the office, often there together but each taking an evening off a week. If they occasionally shared a cheeky snog when it was quiet, what harm did it do?

They had been so busy that they hadn’t really spoken about it. Why talk when you can kiss? They spent so much time together in the office and at events that they barely stayed over each other’s houses anymore, and so there had been no opportunities for talking or even taking things further. 

Louis got into the habit of bringing his laptop into the office with him. He had computerised the member list and liked to spend his time planning future events and making posters and leaflets. It kept him busy, anyway.

It was mid-September, and Louis was on his own in the office. Harry had sent someone with the message that he was needed for an emergency surgery so he would be late. Louis was peering at the Earth calendar and trying to work out when his birthday was supposed to be. It was September, but October was the last month of the year. His birthday was in December, a now non-existent month. Even after all this time, he had no clue.

He checked his work emails and responded to a few. His recruits would finally be coming over in a mere four months and not only that, the original vet would be coming with them. After Harry trained her, he would be free to do what he was truly here for: art. 

There was a lot to arrange. Louis would need to go on a site visit tomorrow to see how their accommodation was coming along. The shopping centre was under construction, too, and Louis and Harry were both excited about it. The more that was built, the more than Rumah felt like a true home.

“Hey,” Zayn said as he poked his head around the door. “Busy?”

“Nah, man. Come in.”

Zayn sat down in one of the four chairs in the room that he had helped Louis source. Dr. Malik was a surprisingly frequent visitor. Maybe the reassurance was all he needed to come out of his shell.

“I wanted to pop by to tell you that the farm have successfully managed to grow a pineapple.”

“What?” Louis gasped. “That’s so amazing. Oh, that means-”

“Yup. Harry will be able to make his upside down pineapple cake.”

“He’s gonna be thrilled.”

Zayn grinned. “He will. So, how’s everything going?”

“Really good, really good.”

“I think I’ll be able to finally get you that paint next week. Sorry it’s taken so long.”

“No worries, man. I see the government building got finished.”

Zayn exhaled loudly. “Yeah. Building a government is gonna be crazy. No one here is a politician, you know?”

“But I reckon you could be a candidate for… President? Prime Minister?” Louis shrugged. “What’s it gonna be?”

“President, I think. Nah. I think Aoki’s got it in the bag. He’s one of the top, top scientists here and I think he’s got great leadership skills. And he’s very fair. I’ll vote for him.”

Louis looked towards the door as he heard quick, heavy footsteps. Harry appeared at the door, panting.

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, love,” Louis said, moving his laptop bag from the chair next to him. “Come in. Me and Zayn were just chatting.”

“Hi, Zayn,” Harry said with a smile. “Hey, is it true there’s another storm coming?”

Zayn glanced at Louis before looking back to Harry and raising his eyebrows.

“What makes you say that?”

“I’m sure I heard the weatherman say that.”

Louis grinned. “Harry, he’s a meteorologist. Not a weatherman.”

“You told me he’d be weatherman once the TV network is up and running.”

“I know, but-”

“Yeah,” Zayn interrupted with a sigh. “Don’t tell anyone, though. It’s gonna be quite big, they think. Don’t panic. You’ll have plenty of warning.”

Harry looked at Louis with worry in his eyes. Louis threw back a look of soft disdain. He wished Harry didn’t worry so much.

“We didn’t think storms occurred on this planet,” Zayn continued. “So everybody is trying to work out whether it’s just a bad weather cycle or if something has shifted. Because we’re in trouble if the weather gets continually worse.”

Zayn left not long later, and Harry propped his chin on his palm.

“I hope it’s not too bad. I was worried last time about lightning hitting the Princess. It is a big, metal disc, in reality.”

“Yeah, but she’s a spacecraft. She’s built to withstand a lot. Unless these lightning bolts are freakily strong, I think she’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.”

It was two days later when word got round that nobody should be outside after 5pm because a huge storm was going to hit. People were told to get underground if they could, which terrified Harry.

“Where can we get underground? Is there a basement in your building?”

“No.”

After work, Louis had to run to the LGBTQ centre to fetch his laptop. Harry went with him and they were cutting it fine. Louis dropped Harry off at 4.55, and was preparing to sprint home.

“Don’t you dare,” Harry warned. “Why are you being stupid? Just stay with me.”

“But we don’t know how long we’re gonna be trapped inside for.”

“So?” Harry scoffed, pulling Louis inside by his hoodie pocket. “I have enough food to last us both a week, and it’s not as if you don’t fit into my clothes if you need to.”

“Thanks, Harry.” Louis smiled.

“I wouldn’t really want to be stranded in here on my own, anyway.”

“Yeah, I don’t wanna be at home alone either.”

They both took showers and they made a flask of tea each, just in case they lost power. They sat on the sofa and stared at Harry’s brand new TV, which was useless because he didn’t have a way to watch anything on it.

“I knew I should’ve brought a games console with me,” Harry said.

Louis laughed and shook his head. It was nice to be at Harry’s again, both of them clean and cosy in sweats, curled up on the sofa. The only thing that broke the reverie was a huge crack of thunder.

“Oh, shit,” Harry murmured. “I hate storms.”

“Do you really? I love them.”

Harry scoffed before whimpering as another crack reverberated through their bones. The rain started suddenly, pounding against Harry’s living room window with a stubborn resolve. Harry huffed and stood up, grabbing his iPod and plugging it into a wire coming from the TV.

“The only thing I can use this TV for is to play my music.”

It didn’t quite drown out the sound of the storm but it gave the both of them something to focus on. Harry got up and had a bit of a dance on the fifth song, and soon Louis got up and tried to learn a dance routine Harry made up on the spot.

“What the hell is your foot doing?” Harry asked incredulously, laughing. “Why is it twisting like that?”

“Look, I’m just not a dancer, okay?” 

“Neither am I.”

“So why are you trying to make me learn a bloody routine?!”

“Because,” Harry said through gritted teeth. “I’m trying to ignore that fact that if I step outside of my flat, I’ll die.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “You wouldn’t  _ die.” _

“Oh? What if I tripped and fell out of the atmosphere?”

Louis absolutely exploded with laughter. He still told people about that to make them laugh, at Harry’s expense. Louis must’ve told three visitors to the LGBTQ centre last week, and Harry got pissed off each time. Harry swatted him on the arm and tried to tickle him into submission, but just ended up clutching at his sides. Louis draped his arms on Harry’s shoulders as he managed to get his laughter to die down. The current song ended and was replaced with some ballad that Louis had never heard. He rolled his eyes.

“This is a bit cliche.”

_ “You’re  _ a bit cliche.”

Louis frowned indignantly. “No, I’m not.”

“Hey, wanna dance? Just to make this even more cliche.”

“We should turn the lights off and dance just to the light of the moons. And the life-threatening lightning.”

“No! I’ll be scared.”

“Aww,” Louis cooed with a grin. “I’ll protect you.”

Harry pulled Louis close and swayed the both of them to the gentle beat of the music. It dawned on Louis, then, that maybe this was a song that was released after he had already moved to Rumah, before Harry left. That was an odd feeling, unsettling even.

Louis often fantasised about going home. It wasn’t completely impossible, but nobody would be happy about having to send him back. He agreed to leave everything and everyone behind, after all. He wondered how he would feel. Would he feel like he had finally exhaled after holding his breath for years upon years? Would he feel like he could finally truly relax? Or would he feel regretful, get homesick for Rumah? 

If he was honest, he was probably more likely to get homesick for Harry.

They were kissing, and the electricity in the air was palpable, but that was probably just from the storm. Harry pulled Louis even closer and his mouth moved to Louis’ neck, soft lips pressing to  hot skin.

“Lou.”

Louis opened his mouth to respond and a moan escaped from his throat. Harry’s hand was sprawled out on his lower back and the other was in his hair, and Louis’ eyes rolled closed.

“Lou,” Harry whispered again. “Do you want to go to my room? Say no, if you want.”

“Um…” Louis swallowed and tried to engage his brain. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

Harry took his hand and slowly walked him to the bedroom. Louis felt nervous. It had been a long time and besides, this had been brewing for a while. His heart pounded as they walked into Harry’s bedroom and Harry turned to face him.

“Hey,” Harry said gently, taking both his hands. “Is this what you want?”

Louis nodded immediately to indicate in the affirmative. It was. Now that they were here, in the moment, he realised it probably had been what he had wanted for a while.

Harry’s fingers moved to Louis’ fly, unbuttoning and unzipping quickly before pausing. Harry seemed slightly reluctant. They had never touched each other intimately, although they had been dancing around it. The time was now and, as Harry busied himself with unbuttoning Louis’ shirt, Louis found himself growing needier and needier.

Harry kissed over Louis’ collarbones and shoulder as he pushed his trousers over the swell of his bum and they dropped to the floor with a soft thud. Harry broke away and took a step back to look at him. Harry pulled his t-shirt over his head and, as he did so, the image of Harry, naked in Louis’ garden popped into Louis’ head. Louis dropped his hand to the prominent bulge in his boxers and palmed at himself.

“I didn’t know how much I needed this,” Louis said as Harry continued to strip. “How much I wanted you.”

“Then get on the bed.”

Louis let his shirt drop to the floor and then did as he was told. Harry finished stripping and Louis marvelled at the sight of him nude once again, except this time his chest was flushed and he was hard.

Louis expected Harry to slide on top of him but instead, he laid next to him and so Louis rolled half onto him. The feeling of each of their erections pressing into one another’s hips was completely dizzying.

Harry ran his hands down Louis’ body before boldly pushing his fingers into his boxers and squeezing into the supple flesh of his arse cheeks. Louis groaned with his lips against Harry’s cheek.

“I barely recognise you, Harry,” he whispered teasingly.

“You don’t know me in the bedroom, love.” Harry pressed his middle finger between Louis’ cheeks and Louis gasped. “Would you like to get to know me?”

Louis moaned loudly, grinding down onto Harry. “Obviously.”

“Stop ruining it,” Harry murmured. He pushed Louis’ boxers over his bum and Louis lifted himself so that Harry could push them down to his thighs. “Kiss me.”

Louis kissed him. Kissed him on the mouth, kissed his chest, shuffled down to kiss his stomach. Harry’s confident resolve started to melt away the lower Louis moved and he began to tremble slightly. Louis smirked to himself and kissed his hip.

“Louis. Will you…”

Louis kissed the base of Harry’s cock, and all of a sudden everything started to happen at once. Louis was overcome with need and he took Harry in eagerly, so eagerly that he choked. Harry squirmed beneath him, and Louis reckoned he was trying very hard not to buck up into Louis’ mouth.

“Lou, fuck, it’s been ages…”

Louis pulled off and grabbed Harry’s cock in his hand, licking the underside of his shaft and over his balls. Harry groaned pitifully.

“Louis, seriously…”

Louis pumped his hand slowly. Harry didn’t seem to know quite what to do with himself so he wrapped his hand around Louis’, groaning as their hands moved together over his shaft. Harry sped his hand up and Louis swatted it away and upped the pace.

Just as it popped into Louis’ head that he was giving his best friend a hand job, Harry started to tremble and then he was coming with a shout, and it was the hottest thing Louis had seen in a long time. He stroked him through his orgasm and when Harry went limp, panting, Louis quickly moved to straddle his ribs.

“You’re so sexy,” Louis told him, feeling slightly awestruck. “This is all so weird, but so hot.”

“Weird?” Harry said, breathless and looking a little hurt.

“We’re best friends.”

“Did you not feel like this was inevitable?”

Louis considered that. “Well… I suppose so.”

“You’re such a clueless boy.” Harry smirked and grabbed hold of Louis’ hips. “You’re sitting right on my come, you know.”

“You know how you kept joking about me making you a vibrator?”

“Who was joking?”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m not battery operated but…”

_ “Ohhh!”  _ Harry grinned and fluttered his eyelashes. “Are you saying you’d like to fuck me?”

“Um, is that something you think you’d like, or…”

Harry laughed. “Yes! Please.”

“Great! Okay. Good. Um.” Louis took a breath. “Do you have, um… what are we gonna use as lube?”

“Why don’t we use my lube?”

“You brought lube?” Louis raised his eyebrows. “Has it not gone off by now?”

“Nope. Go into my bathroom. Bottom drawer.”

Louis fetched the small, unopened bottle and crept back into the bedroom. Harry was slowly pulling his hand up and down his cock, looking a little sensitive. 

“Turn over, babe.”

Harry did as he was told and stuck his arse in the air. Louis opened him up with trembling fingers. Harry seemed to enjoy the process more than most men Louis had slept with, which made it all the more enjoyable for Louis, too.

“Harry? I didn’t see any condoms in your drawer.”

“Louis, we both went through pretty invasive and extensive medical tests. I’m fairly sure we’re clean.”

“Right, yeah. Okay. I didn’t even think of that.” Louis stroked inside of Harry a few more times. “You ready?”

“I fucking am.”

Louis squirted some lube onto his cock, spreading it as he lined up and started to push into Harry. Fuck. It was such an incredible feeling and Louis suddenly felt in danger of embarrassing himself. He gritted his teeth as he pulled out slightly and pushed in again, moving shallowly to try and build it up slowly. It felt so good that before he knew it, he was thrusting deeply, slamming into Harry only a handful of times before he felt his orgasm swiftly approaching. His hips grew erratic and he slipped out of Harry, pushing back in just in time for his climax, coming inside him with a tense shout. His hips mindlessly continued to move until he started to come down and he fell still.

“Fucking  _ hell.” _

Harry grunted out a noise. “Tell me about it.”

Louis finally pulled out and they laid on their sides, just smiling at each other. This was a development he hadn’t expected until fairly recently, and even then, it didn’t feel imminent. He was very glad, though.

“Well, we killed some time,” Harry said with a grin. “Ten or fifteen minutes.”

“Ugh, believe me, I’ll last longer next time. I promise.” Louis smiled. “If you want a next time.”

“I’d like a lot of them.”

They stayed in bed for the whole evening, talking and sleeping and kissing. Louis woke up in the middle of the night to find Harry gone. He had been having trouble, what with the storm. Louis sat up and rubbed his eyes, and as he was wondering whether to go and find Harry, he walked in the room holding a mug.

“Oh, hey. Did I wake you?”

“No, just… I woke up and you weren’t here.”

“Sorry.” Harry sighed as he slipped into bed. “Just can’t sleep.”

“Well, hopefully it’ll stop tomorrow.”

Harry chewed his bottom lip. “You know, on Mars, storms can last weeks. Maybe even months.”

“This isn’t Mars, Harry. Don’t work yourself up. It’s not going to last more than a few days. At the very most.”

Harry hummed, unconvinced, and sipped at his drink. 

“Harry, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Are you settled? It’s just… you were quite homesick for a while and, it’s not that I’m  _ worried _ exactly… but if we’re going to… do this, I need to know you won’t decide you can’t take it and leave. Go home.”

Harry frowned, uncomprehending. “I can’t, though.”

“If you were desperate enough to go home, if you were adamant you would never be happy here, they’d send you back. I want you to know that. If you’re unhappy, you have an option.”

Harry considered it before shrugging and rubbing his index finger along the rim of his mug.

“Okay, well, no. I think I’m good. I still get homesick, but I don’t see it ever being bad enough to go home.” Harry scoffed. “One: You won’t catch me happily opting to go back into space. Two: I couldn’t leave the centre. I’m confident you’d be fine, but I think it works really well with the two of us. I’ve got a purpose here, you know, I’ve made friends. And there’s you.”

Louis couldn’t help but smile widely. “Okay.”

“They really let people go back?”

“Rarely. Very rarely.” Louis stroked Harry’s cheek with the back of his finger. “If you were unhappy enough, I would definitely have pulled some strings.”

“You’re wonderful.”

-

Harry had managed to get a few hours sleep and when Louis woke up, it was late morning and the storm continued, albeit with less enthusiasm than it had overnight.

Despite managing to sleep, Harry had risen early and the smell of coffee and eggs woke Louis from his own slumber. He felt groggy, so he wrapped Harry’s duvet around him, cocooning himself in as he waddled out to the kitchen.

“Morning- woah!” Harry laughed. 

“At least we don’t have to go to work.”

Harry rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Mm, well I had a chicken that was supposed to have an operation today. In fact, I might call someone and see if they reckon it’s safe for me to go in. I’m sure the chicken will be fine, but I want to check on my inpatients.”

“Harry, no.”

Harry looked at him sternly. “I’m going to ring. Who should I ring? Zayn?”

Louis sighed, relenting. “Yeah, probably the best person to ask.”

They ate a delicious breakfast cooked by Harry, then Louis watched as he rang Zayn. Zayn told Harry that the worst was over and so although he discouraged it, Harry would probably be able to get to the veterinary practice no problem. Louis absolutely wouldn’t let Harry go on his own.

“What’s the point of both of us putting ourselves in danger?” Harry said.

“Strength in numbers,” Louis argued. “What if you run into trouble? It’s not as if you can just WhatsApp me, is it?”

They continued to bicker as Louis wrapped up warm in some sweats from Harry’s wardrobe. There was yet to be such thing as umbrellas on Rumah, so they would have to brave the rain unprotected. A crack of thunder shook Harry’s flat just as they were about to leave.

“Are you sure about this?” Louis asked.

“Yeah. Come on.”

They emerged from the building and purposefully and swiftly started the long walk. Louis was tempted to make a run for it, but it was dangerous. The ground was slippery when wet,  _ very _ slippery. They moved as quickly as they could, taking shelter whenever the opportunity arose. They were about halfway when they found a recess in a rock and curled up together for a rest.

Louis groaned. “Ugh, I’m soggy.”

“I’m going to make you a lovely dinner tonight,” Harry told Louis as he wriggled closer. “Do you like quiche?”

“Yeah!”

“I think I’ll experiment with ingredients.”

Louis could see a tree on the horizon, a strange, gnarled tree that he liked to look at from his work office. As he stared at it fondly, the sky illuminated and the tree exploded, pieces of bark flying in all directions, the trunk aflame.

“Oh, fuck!” Louis gasped. “Did you see that?!”

“Aw, that’s so sad,” Harry whined. “Look at it.”

The flames were pretty feeble and the rain doused them in the space of a few minutes. It was unnerving nonetheless. 

“I wish I had my camera. I’ll have to come out and take a photo when the storm’s over.”

“You’ll have a few to take. This place looks completely different.”

“True.” Harry rested his head on Louis’ shoulder. “Lou?”

“Hm?”

“Last night was amazing.”

Louis smirked. “It was. The question is, where do we go from here?”

“I guess… just…”

“It was kind of a rhetorical question.” Louis kissed Harry’s forehead. “I was mostly joking.”

“Okay. A bit awkward. Shall we get going?”

Louis laughed softly. He stood up and held his hand out to help Harry up.

“No, look. Let’s not overthink it.”

“Or...” Harry took a deep breath and squeezed Louis’ hand as they started to walk. “Or you could just be my boyfriend. Wouldn’t that be easier?”

Louis burst out laughing. “I suppose.”

“It’s what I want.”

“Well, you’re very bold. I like it.” Louis grinned. “Let’s give it a go.”

“Ahh! Yay!” Harry giggled and kissed him on the cheek. “This is amazing.”

“Mm, it’s been a long time coming, I think.”

-

The storm eased a little before they left Harry’s practice. By the time they got back to his, the rain had stopped and, an hour before sunset, the weak sun was shining stubbornly.

The meteorologists reckoned that there wouldn’t be another storm for a long time after that. Louis couldn’t help but worry what would happen if there was a storm the day that his recruits were supposed to arrive. He supposed that, now they knew that storms could develop on Rumah, they would be able to forecast them further in advance.

As the months crept forward, Louis got busier and busier. Some nights he had to stay at work late, leaving Harry to man the LGBTQ centre alone. Harry understood. This was what Louis was here for, what he had been waiting for. 

Louis couldn’t believe that, if it wasn’t for the vet injuring herself, Harry would only just be coming over. He wondered if they would have got together eventually. Maybe things would have been different. The LGBTQ centre would never have been set up, that was for sure.

“Hey.”

Louis jerked out of a light doze and looked at Harry, who was mere inches from his face. Their chairs were pushed together, arm to arm, and they were holding hands.

“What?” Louis said groggily, rubbing his eyes. 

“Sorry, didn’t realise you’d fallen asleep.”

Louis glared gently. “It’s okay.”

“I was wondering. Do you think we’re the first male couple to have sex here?”

Louis sat up straight in his chair and smirked. “Uh. No.”

“Really?”

“Harry, we have a member list of over forty. Some of those are scientists who have been here for well over a decade. Now, they may not have time for relationships, but everybody needs to blow off steam every now and then.”

“You’re right.” Harry grinned. “Well, I wanna be the first to do  _ something.” _

“We could make a sex tape and hack into the TV network to broadcast it? That would be a first.”

“Stop! Not like that.” Harry shook his head, smiling. “When do your people leave Earth?”

Louis exhaled loudly. “Next week.”

“Gosh. It’s getting close.”

“You looking forward to leaving the practice?”

“Kind of,” Harry said with a slight frown. “I kind of think I’ll feel lazy when my job is sitting around painting.”

“Well, I’m not sure they thought it through. Unless you’ll be commissioned to paint certain things.”

“Hm. I suppose this girl will need a lot of training as it is. So, it won’t be like I’m suddenly doing nothing.”

“You could even paint from in here.”

“Ugh. No.” Harry stood up and stretched. “Are we nearly done? I need some fresh air.”

“Ten minutes until close. You can get off if you want, I’ll stay here.”

Harry folded his arms and looked at Louis. “You still coming to mine?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Well, I think I’ll pop by the shopping centre. Get something nice for dessert. Meet me there?”

“Good plan.”

Louis didn’t know how he had coped as long as he did without sleeping with Harry. He wasn’t addicted exactly, but some days he just couldn’t bear the thought of not releasing his tension before bed. And some days… some days, sex with Harry was all he could think about. He had been prepared to give up sex and relationships when he moved to Rumah. It wasn’t that he thought he would never have sex again, but he knew there was a chance he wouldn’t meet anyone.

Let alone fall in love.

-

The time came. Louis’ recruits set off from Earth in the brand new spacecraft. They would be there in five weeks, and it didn’t feel long enough for Louis. Their homes were ready, their introduction packs were ready, their medical monitoring programmes were all set up. But Louis felt unprepared and every single day that passed he freaked out that little bit more.

Harry leaned against the wall of the LGBTQ Centre, next to the rainbow flag. “You would never feel prepared. You’ve had years and years to prepare for this.”

“You calling me lazy?”

Harry rolled his eyes. “No.”

“Louis,” Niall said. “No matter how scared you are, they’ll be more scared. You know the planet and you also know how it feels to be new. You’ll be a valuable mentor to them. You even have an advantage, in that you helped Josie mentor Harry when he arrived.”

“Yeah, and then I started sleeping with him.”

“After like two years!” Harry objected.

“Look, stop fucking worrying.” Niall nodded as if the matter was finalised. “We’re eating at the new pizza place tonight.”

“Alright,” Louis said. “But I’m not eating pepperoni. That fake meat stuff they use is so gross.”

“I think this new place makes it differently than that other place.”

Louis remained unconvinced but didn’t have the energy to answer. Tomorrow was his first day off in weeks, and he couldn’t wait. He planned to sleep the whole day away, hopefully with Harry by his side some of the time.

His recruits should have been a quarter of the way through their journey, maybe even nearing a third. Not that he was counting. After they closed up the LGBTQ centre and headed to the pizza place, Harry had to keep tugging on his hand to jerk him back into the present.

“You’re getting on my nerves, love,” Harry told him. “You need to switch off. Do you think you can? Even if it’s just for an hour while we eat?”

“Sorry. I’m sorry.”

Louis tried his best not to think about all the stuff he still had to do. He focused on the stories that Niall was telling - he always had a story, and Louis didn’t care to consider whether it was true or not - and on the fact that Harry’s hand was on his thigh. It was both grounding and delicious and, as Harry’s hand slid to his inner thigh, Louis started to feel electrified. Louis was just pondering whether he could wait until after dinner or whether he should drag Harry into the toilet, when there was some kind of commotion by the entrance.

“Thank God!”

Louis recognised the voice of Dr. Malik. He turned his body towards the noise and Zayn approached him quickly with wild, desperate eyes.

“Louis, I need to speak to you. It’s urgent. In private. Come on.”

Louis was so stunned and confused that he followed Zayn outside without stopping to question. 

“What’s happened?”

Zayn was out of breath. Louis had no idea how Zayn had tracked him down, but by the state of him, it seemed to have been quite the ordeal. Zayn paused to catch his breath, but Louis wondered if he was stalling, gathering his words. Dread started to pool in the pit of his stomach.

“Zayn.”

“Um, so. There’s no easy way to say this.” Zayn sighed and rubbed his face. “Something happened in the wormhole, man. We lost the spacecraft.”

Louis’ vision immediately blurred and he didn’t know what was going on. His head swam and he stumbled backwards, hitting the wall of the pizza place.

“Wh- So you don’t know where they are?”

Zayn tightened his lips. “They’re gone, Lou. Broken up, or vapourised, or thrown into oblivion. We don’t know, but… they’re gone.”

Louis sank down to the floor and turned his head to the side. He felt like he was going to throw up. All his hard work. All the time he put in.

None of that shit mattered when it was his guys. His projects, his wonderful recruits. Pummeled into nothing by cruel, vast, unforgiving space. He vaguely wondered what the hot streaks on his cheeks were before he realised he was crying.

Zayn crouched down. “I’m so sorry. We try everything we can to stop this from happening.”

“I know,” Louis croaked out.

“Shall I take you home?”

“Uh…” Louis squinted through wet, swollen eyes. “No. Can you go inside and get Harry? Don’t tell him. Just tell him he needs to take me home.”

“Of course.”

Zayn disappeared inside and Louis just clutched at his hair. They were dead. They were all dead. Louis had to bite down the hope that they had just lost contact and they were fine. He knew they weren’t. Everybody knew that keeping contact through the wormhole was vital, and if contact was lost, it wasn’t good news.

Maybe they had even already waited a few days. Louis wasn’t sure when the craft was due to enter the wormhole. The way they travelled through space had changed since he came over. 

He tried to focus on his breathing, on putting all his energy into steady breaths. At some point, Harry appeared and pulled him up by his armpits like a child. Louis propped himself in Harry’s side and let him lead him home.

The only thing he remembered from the journey home was that it was silent, save for Harry’s occasional comforting shushes, and that it was difficult. His legs didn’t seem to work very well and the rocky terrain was hard for him. They finally got back to Harry’s - Harry’s was closer - and Harry put him in the bed and tucked the duvet around him. 

“Do you need anything, my love?”

“Uh…” Louis frowned, barely able to even think. “No.”

“I’ll leave you alone, maybe you-”

“No! No.” Louis’ breath shuddered as tears started to fall. “Please don’t leave.”

“Okay. Of course.” Harry closed the bedroom door and leaned against it. “Do you need a cuddle?”

Louis nodded and clenched his eyes shut. He felt the bed dip, and Harry shuffled in close on top of the duvet.

“When you’re ready… I’m here to listen.”

“Thank you.”

Louis’ mind was so fuzzy that he barely realised he was drifting in and out of sleep. He wasn’t sure if he had been dreaming or if his imagination was running wild, but horribly vivid images of space and spacecraft debris and bodies being squashed and stretched until they ripped apart were haunting him and he wanted to crawl out of his brain somehow.

He needed a wee, so he slipped out of bed. Harry was dozing, but woke up from the movement.

“You okay?”

“Just need a wee,” Louis said groggily. “Back in a sec.”

He hobbled to the toilet. His legs felt weak and reluctant, as if he had the flu, or something. When he returned to bed, Harry was sitting up cross-legged with his hands in his lap. Louis slipped back into bed and laid his head on Harry’s shoulder.

“Um…” He cleared his throat. “So… it was the ship. It’s gone. They’re all gone.”

Louis felt Harry freeze. “What?”

“It was the wormhole. They just… blipped. I don’t know.”

“Oh my God,” Harry said, his voice trembling.

And Louis suddenly realised something. Harry. He was supposed to be on that ship. If the vet - that poor, poor woman - hadn’t been kicked by her horse, she would be here now, and Harry would be dead.

Louis scrambled out of the duvet and straddled Harry, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him close.

“I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry,” Louis mumbled through his tears. “I’m-”

“Why? Why are you sorry?” Harry was crying too, clutching Louis just as hard as he was being held. “Fuck.”

They stayed like that for an eternity, at least that was how it felt to Louis. Eventually, Harry’s cries faded to quiet sobs and Louis rolled off of him. He swiped at Harry’s cheeks, but his tears had mostly dried against his skin.

“We… we need to keep going.”

Harry looked at him quizzically, the hurt and fear blindingly evident in his eyes. It pained Louis to his core. How could he help Harry when he didn’t know how to help himself?

“We should, um…” Louis rubbed his eyes and stood up on wobbly legs. “We should eat.”

Louis had no idea what time it was, except that it was dark outside and his stomach was feebly grumbling. He tried to think of something that was easy to eat. Thinking hurt his head, so he just buttered some bread and took it back into his room.

“It’s stupid, but…”

Harry was laying on his side, curled up and staring into space. Louis placed the plate at the end of the bed and laid facing Harry.

“We’ll get through this together.”

Harry hesitated but he nodded. They sat up together, and Louis handed Harry some bread. They both took a bite. Louis chewed, but swallowing was difficult. His throat felt tight, but they forced themselves to eat two slices each, and Louis felt sick.

“You… You understand, right?” Harry croaked. “You get that this is exactly what I was worried about?”

Louis paused to compose himself - he really didn’t have the energy to start crying again - before nodding.

“Completely.”

“Even if I  _ did _ wanna go home…” Harry let out a huge sigh. “I’d be too scared.”

“I don’t know where they’ll go from here,” Louis said. “I just- how am I supposed to go to work? Do my job?”

“I don’t know,” Harry whispered. “How do _ any  _ of us come back from this?”

Louis shrugged. Everybody would probably know by now. If they turned the TV on, the brand new television network would probably be running a bulletin about it. Louis couldn’t bear the thought of hearing more about it. Louis hand-picked these people, and because of that, they were all dead. Except for Harry.

Louis leaned in and kissed Harry. The scope of their lives on Rumah would probably change, now, but they had to get through it, no matter what happened. They didn’t really have much choice.

Louis finally looked at the clock. It was five in the morning. The sun would rise soon, as usual. As if anything was expected to carry on as usual.

“I, um… I should ring work.”

Harry shook his head. “Nobody is going to expect you.”

“Still, I…” Louis sighed and stood up. “I should touch base. I’m not going in today, but I’ll probably go in tomorrow.”

“You don’t have to.”

Louis looked at the floor. “There might be things that need sorting.”

Harry stayed silent and so Louis looked up at him. He was staring at Louis with a pained expression. Eventually, he nodded. 

“Okay.”

“I’ll be right back.”

Louis rang his office and spoke to Josie, who was very nice but a little overbearing. She had been there all night. They had held a crisis meeting, and then Louis felt awful for the fact that he ran away and hid. His first instinct was to throw on some clean clothes and run out the door to work, but he knew it would be wrong to leave Harry. He was hurting, too. He was immeasurably scared.

They spent the rest of the day drifting in and out of consciousness, cuddling, crying. The next morning, Harry didn’t feel up to going into work - he thought he would be fairly useless - so Louis took him into his office.

Harry sat at Louis’ desk next to him, absently making a rubber band ball, while Louis started the horrible task of finding all his files for his dead recruits. He emailed them to Dr. Malik, the editor of the Rumah newsletter, and a few other people who needed them. He couldn’t help but read through them, and each time he came to the end and closed the file, he felt like he was condemning them to death all over again.

People kept silently bringing Harry and Louis food and drink, and by the time Louis turned away from his computer, Harry’s side of the desk was covered in plates and Harry was chomping on a slice of pizza.

“You’ve got an appetite?”

Harry shrugged. “Apparently.”

Louis sighed heavily. “Will you be okay while I pop to see Zayn? I won’t be long.”

Harry nodded. “Um. Okay. I’ll just eat my feelings.”

Louis smiled sadly and kissed Harry on the cheek. 

-

Louis was with Zayn a bit longer than intended and when he got back, Harry was playing Solitaire on Louis’ laptop, staring at the screen unblinkingly. 

“You alright?”

“Hm? Yeah.” Harry blinked and sighed. “Sorry. I hope it’s okay I used your computer.”

“Of course. Well, I’m all done here.”

“Um, listen. I think we should go to the centre. I know we both kind of feel like shutting ourselves away, but people feel comfortable talking to us and I feel it’s only right to be there for them.” Harry shrugged. “We’re not the only ones hurting. Plus, it might be cathartic for us, too.”

“You’re right.” Louis wrapped an arm around Harry’s shoulders. “Let’s go.”

-

A few people swung by, mostly just to check if Louis was okay, as much as they tried to hide their true motivation. Aside from that, it was fairly quiet. They stayed way past their usual closing time, talking about anything and everything apart from the issue plaguing their minds. Louis felt as though keeping busy was the key for him. Harry didn’t seem the same way. Louis was determined not to let him wallow.

Louis dragged him out to the pizza place for dinner, and Harry looked miserable. Louis tried his best to keep him talking but by the time they walked back to Louis’, Harry wouldn’t even speak. When they got through the door, Harry sighed heavily and went straight to the bedroom. Louis started to follow him but thought better of it and went to make the tea. 

When he came into the bedroom with a cup of tea in each hand, Harry was huddled on top of the duvet, his back to the door. Louis’ heart twanged with sorrow. 

“Hey. I made us a cup of tea.”

Harry just grunted. Louis put the cups down and got onto the bed. He placed a hand on Harry’s back and Harry recoiled.

“Um. Can I just be on my own for a bit?”

“Darling, I just don’t think you should wallow.”

“I’m not  _ wallowing.”  _ Harry huffed and flipped over to face Louis. His eyes were ringed with red. “I’m just sad. Can I just be sad? Not all of us can see the positive in every fucking situation.”

“If you just talk to me-”

“I don’t want to talk!” Harry scrambled off of the bed and tried to push his feet into his shoes. “Look, if you can’t give me the space I need, I’m going home. I really can’t deal with being smothered right now.”

“I’m not smothering you.”

“If I feel smothered, you’re smothering me.” Harry paused before scoffing and rolling his eyes. “Look, Lou. I’m really sorry if you can’t be on your own right now, but personally, I really just fucking need to be alone.”

Before Louis could get his head around what was happening, Harry was storming out of the bedroom and slamming the front door closed behind him. Louis stood in his bedroom, staring at the bed in dismay. What just happened? Was Harry okay? Were  _ they _ okay?

Harry was right about one thing. Louis couldn’t bear to be alone. He thought about seeking out some of his colleagues who lived in the same building, but they were probably too close to the whole thing. Without really thinking, he slipped some trainers on and headed out the door.

-

“...And they kind of think the radiation on Rumah is less than on Earth. Which could mean less cancer, and shit. But it’s all just theory right now. They’re still investigating and discovering new elements they never had before.”

Louis was listening. Kind of. He was clutching the neck of his beer bottle and staring aimlessly into the corner of Niall’s living room.

“My best friend back home was a cancer doctor,” Niall continued. “I wish he came over with me.”

“My best friend’s dad is the one who sent me over here,” Louis replied, finally looking at Niall. “Sort of. God, I miss Liam.”

Niall’s face grew sad. “Um, but you… at least you do have a new best friend, now.”

Louis scoffed. “Are you talking about Harry?”

“Sorry.”

“Harry’s not my best friend, he’s my boyfriend.” Louis sniffed. “Maybe.”

Niall stood up and sat on the arm of the chair Louis was sitting in. “You should be both. You guys were best friends for years before you became a couple. You need to hold onto that element. It’s really important, you know, something to be treasured.”

“Well, who knows what we are, now.”

Niall shoved him playfully. “Don’t be such a dick. He loves you. He needs to grieve in his own way. You do it differently to him. Besides, you’ve both been profoundly affected by this, but in such completely different ways.”

“I suppose.”

“You feel responsible. Right? You feel responsible for the lot of them. And you’re mourning the loss of your recruits.”

Louis sniffed in response.

“But Harry. Harry’s worst fear is dying in space and he was supposed to be on that ship. He would’ve died in space. He’s aching for what could have been for himself. It was pure chance that that poor vet got kicked by the horse and he had to take her place.” Niall paused to swig from his own beer. “And therefore, he’ll be feeling responsible for her death.”

“It’s not his fault.”

“Well, I know that, and you know that. But Harry probably thinks it is.” Niall placed a hand on Louis’ head. “You’re no more to blame than he is.”

“But I hand picked them. If I had picked other people instead of them-”

“Then the same amount of people would still have died. It’s not as if other people deserved to die over the ones who did, is it?”

Louis felt another wave of dread and sickness over him. Niall was right. Of course he was. But grief and guilt could be irrational. He couldn’t not think about the faces of the hopefuls that he had picked. The image of one girl - Krista, twenty-two, pianist, prodigy - kept popping into his head. A picture she had sent of her on a beautiful beach with her dog, looking happy as could be, haunted him every day. He wasn’t sure why she got to him specifically.

“Give him some space,” Niall continued. “I know you want him to know you are there for him and you love him, but most of all you need to show him respect by giving him the breathing space he’s asked for. Do you know what I mean?”

Louis sighed and nodded. “Yup. By the way, we haven’t actually said that to each other yet.”

“What? That you love each other?” Niall cackled. “Why the fuck not?”

“Piss off,” Louis murmured with a slight grin.

-

It was really difficult for Louis to leave Harry alone. It felt… wrong. It was now the third day that Louis and Harry hadn’t spoken, and no one had seen him. Louis couldn’t help but worry. He knew how important it was that he respected Harry’s wishes but what if he wasn’t alright?

“Niall, can’t you just pop round to see him?”

_ “Come on, he’ll know you sent me.” _

“We have to do something.”

_ “Look, I’ll ask Lucie to ring him. If he doesn’t answer, I’ll get her to go round. Would that make you feel better?” _

“Yes.” Louis sighed with relief. “Thank you.”

_ “You know he’s fine.” _

“I hope so.”

_ “He’s fine.”  _ Niall hung up the phone abruptly and Louis rolled his eyes. 

When the weekend came, Louis spent the majority of it at the LGBTQ centre. He was sick and tired of his flat and besides, he would get to see some faces that weren’t Niall. Josie popped by to say hi and Dr. Rexha came in to talk to Louis about another LGBTQ night at the nightclub on the Princess. A couple of hours before Louis was due to go home, Dr. Aoki came in.

“Hello, Louis.”

“Dr. Aoki. Hi.”

He was carrying a Kopu under his arm like a small dog, and Louis stifled a laugh. Dr. Aoki saw Louis looking at it.

“Ah. Sorry to bring her in. Hope it’s alright.”

“It’s fine! She’s very cute.”

Dr. Aoki smirked. “I’m glad you think so. I was wondering if you’d like to adopt her.”

“What?”

“Well, I thought it might be beneficial to your cause. She’s very sweet, but she’s nervous in the field. She’s perfect as a pet. I thought she could be sort of a therapy animal for those who come to you in their time of need.”

“That’s very thoughtful, Doctor. Thank you.”

“Of course, yourself and Harry would have to share custody of her. I’m sure you can work it out.”

Louis felt a jolt in his heart but he put on a brave face. “Yes, absolutely.”

Dr. Aoki walked over and placed the Kopu in Louis’ arms. It was a strange and awkward sensation. She felt a bit like a small dog but she had hooves and an udder. Odd.

“Does she have a name?”

“Not yet.”

The image of a girl on a beach with her dog popped into Louis’ mind once again.

“I’ll name her Krista.”

-

Sunday night, Louis turned the light off and clipped Krista’s lead on. He kicked the doorstop out and turned to make sure the door closed behind him. When he turned to leave, a figure standing behind him made him jump out of his skin.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Louis clutched at his chest. “Harry, you scared the shit out of me.”

“I’m sorry.” Harry crouched down and tickled Krista’s chin. “Who’s this?”

“Aw. Aoki thought she might be a good therapy pet for the centre. I named her Krista.”

Harry stood up and leaned against the wall. “Krista. Named after your pianist?”

Louis nodded silently. Harry gave a brief, sad smile before taking Krista’s lead from Louis’ hand. Louis was carrying some papers and his laptop so he was grateful for the free hand.

“Cheers. Um, Aoki says we should share custody of her.”

“Oh.” Harry looked at the floor as they made their way to the nearest exit of the Princess. “I’m sorry I was so horrible to you.”

“Harry, you really don’t have anything to apologise for. You were right. I was being selfish. I should’ve been more thoughtful.”

“I’m still sorry.” Harry winced. “I hate the way I spoke to you. It was awful. And you must’ve been so worried these past few days.”

“Niall talked me down.”

Harry turned to smile softly at Louis. “Do you really think I wouldn’t guess that the two of you got Lucie to check on me?”

Louis smiled at the floor and shrugged. Harry stopped walking and put his hand out to stop Louis, too.

“I’ll never talk to you like that again. There’s nothing that would make me behave like that again.”

Louis slipped his hand into Harry’s. “We’ll both be better.”

“Yeah,” Harry said. “Deal.”

They hugged and, as awkward as it was with Krista by their feet and Louis carrying so much, it felt wonderful to Louis and he could not have felt more pleased, not to mention relieved.

“So,” Louis said as they pulled away and continued to walk. “You’re feeling better?”

“I think I actually just needed a couple of days to wallow.” Harry shrugged. “I think hitting rock bottom and climbing up out of it is just my process.”

“Do you wanna take Krista tonight? A bit of comfort? Or would you prefer to be alone?”

“Actually, I’d like to be with you, if you don’t mind.”

They headed back to Louis’. Louis had bought Krista her basics yesterday, and she trotted to her bed to curl up in it.

“She’s so cute,” Harry said with a sigh.

“You wouldn’t believe how much she sleeps. She’s like a cat.”

“Hm.” Harry folded his arms and looked around Louis’ living room. “This place is a shit tip.”

“Well, I’ve tried not to spend a lot of time here.”

“So how did it get in such a shit tip, then?” Harry smirked. “Were you going to make dinner? You make the dinner and I’ll clean up. Don’t you think that sounds fair?”

Louis just grinned. He didn’t know whether Harry was truly alright - it hadn’t even been two weeks - but he had his Harry back at least somewhat, and he couldn’t help but smile.

“Okay.”

“No garlic, because there will be a lot of kissing tonight.”

“Sure thing, lots of garlic. Got it.”

“Shut up!”

-

Neither of them were really okay, but they helped each other through. They tried harder to be mindful of each other and, along with Krista, they started to rebuild.

Krista proved to be a valuable asset. She was very sweet and patient, always up for cuddling people as they sat and spoke for hours on end with Harry or Louis. Everybody had personal feelings about what had happened, and the more people that Louis spoke to the more he felt his burden lessened. Every single person on Rumah knew that it could just as easily have been them.

Harry and Louis would occasionally catch each other crying, or disappearing into themselves, but they both tried hard to get things back to normal. Or a new normal, at least. 

It was a Saturday afternoon, and Louis was mentally exhausted. He had been speaking to a member for three hours on a difficult personal issue they had been having and it had taken its toll. Harry had been at work since early morning, performing a difficult operation on a Shukah and just as Louis was wondering if he should close for ten minutes to get some fresh air, Harry walked in carrying tea and cake.

“Hello! Quiet morning?”

“Fuck off,” Louis replied with a whine. “That for me?”

Harry smiled and placed the tea on the desk. “What happened?”

“Just had a long morning of talking. How was work?”

Harry sighed and sat in his usual chair. “Fine. The operation was so-so. We think that there’s something that the farm animals are eating that is making their bones brittle.”

“Oh, that’s not good.”

“Hm.” Harry rubbed his face and ran his fingers through his hair. “Do you wanna take a break?”

“Nah. Now you’re here, I’m alright.” Louis paused. “Actually, I’ll pop out for a wee.”

When Louis returned, Harry was sitting rather stiffly, Krista sitting on the desk with her hooves tucked up under herself.

“Haz, what have I said about her sitting on the desk?” Louis sighed. “You alright?”

“I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Louis raised his eyebrows and returned to his seat. He turned his body to face Harry.

“Oh?”

“I don’t know how these things work, but I’m going to ask anyway.” Harry shifted in his seat. “I was wondering if you would like to live together.”

Louis’ eyebrows raised again, higher this time as his eyes widened. 

“Oh. Well. I would love that, Harry.”

Harry broke into a grin. “Great.”

“I know what you mean, I don’t know if there’s any procedure. Did you have a preference between our flats? Your flat is nicer.”

“Yours has its own spring, though.”

Louis flung an arm around Harry’s shoulders and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Let me speak to Zayn. If we want to cohabit, there might be a bigger flat available. If not, I don’t mind where we live.”

“Me neither.” Harry leaned into him. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

-

**Five Years Later**

_ Dear Mum, _

_ I cannot express how much your care package meant to me. The most sentimental thing was the photos, of course. The kids are all so grown up, I can’t cope! _

_ Harry sends his love and is eternally grateful for the Haribo. He’s very touched you included him, actually. Right now, he’s painting rainbow flags for Princess week. He’s managed to get hold of sheets of fabric but has to paint the colours on himself. Still, it keeps him out of trouble! _

_ We’re close to our second Pride celebration, now, and I’ve got a good feeling about it. Princess week is the biggest celebration we have and we were worried last year about piggybacking on it but it seemed to work a treat. The entire planet is in support which is wonderful. _

_ I’m sure you keep up to date on the progress of Rumah, but the second town will likely be settled in a few months. Harry and I would love to move there if it wasn’t for the LGBTQ centre. We’re only just moving to our bigger office, so we’ll stay put for a while. _

_ We’ll be going away for the weekend next month, to the seaside. I have to send you photos, it’s beautiful. There are fantastic purple cliffs a mile up the beach that left us speechless the first time we went.  _

_ Wish you were here! Maybe they will make commercial travel between planets safe and affordable before our time is up, but maybe that’s just a pipe dream. _

_ Love to you all. _

_ Louis (and Harry) xxxxxxx _

Louis hit send and swiveled around in his chair. Harry was crouched on the floor painting a flag and quietly humming to himself.

“Why do you always feel the need to be on the floor, Harry?”

“Less physical restriction than a chair.”

“Well, that’s just wonderful. But I hope you realise that you’re scuffing your knees and everyone will think you’ve been up to something naughty.”

Harry slowly turned his head to look up at Louis. A smirk spread slowly across his face.

“That can be arranged.”

“Behave. I don’t think getting up to things right here in the centre, when anyone could walk in, would really constitute it a safe space.”

“Spoilsport.” Harry groaned as he got to his feet. He walked over to Louis and pressed a kiss atop his head. “What do you want for lunch?”

“I’m really in the mood for bread.”

“Let’s go to the bakery, then. Come with me, we can shut for twenty minutes.”

Louis frowned. “No, I-”

“Come on,” Harry whined. “Please?”

“Fine. Gosh.” Louis glared at Harry. “Needy.”

“Can we detour past the new centre? They were painting the shop front today, I wanted to take a look.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Sounds wildly exciting. Aren’t they just painting it white?”

“For now.”

They walked out of the Princess and towards the little row of shops not too far away. The bakery sat amongst the modest little shops, and down the street and around the corner was the new LGBTQ centre. It was two doors down from the town hall, and almost directly opposite the President’s office. It was President Aoki’s insistence that the centre should be amongst the public buildings, which was both wonderful and intimidating.

Harry insisted on swinging by the centre before they picked up lunch. As they turned onto the street, Harry abruptly spun around and grabbed Louis’ shoulders.

“Okay, um…” Harry sighed. “Close your eyes.”

“What?”

Harry moved behind Louis and placed his hands over Louis’ eyes. “Let me lead you forward.”

“God. Why are you being weird?”

“Haven’t you worked out yet that it’s a surprise?”

Louis scoffed as he started to step carefully forward. He knew which direction he was going in. It was blindingly obvious they were heading towards the new centre, but what wasn’t obvious was why he wasn’t allowed to see.

“Careful,” Harry murmured in his ear. “Okay. Turn this way.”

Harry turned Louis before dropping his hands from Louis’ eyes to his hips. Louis kept his eyes shut for a second before opening them and looking up at the centre before him.

It was so completely different than everything he had been picturing, mainly because Harry had told a string of lies. The shop front was painted in the colours of the rainbow, the windows were full of eye-catching posters. The best part was the huge, glowing shop sign.

“Oh, my God.” Louis gazed up at the sign, which read  _ Rumah LGBTQ+ Centre _ in bright, vivid letters. “Aw, you added the plus.”

Harry and Louis had been discussing for a while adding the plus when they moved to the bigger space. Seeing it up there made him wonder why they hadn’t included it in the first place.

“Mm, well. Josie insisted.”

“Josie?”

“Who do you think designed this wonderful signage?”

Louis felt himself welling up. “Well, it’s absolutely beautiful. Thank you.”

Harry chuckled quietly and nudged Louis. “What do you mean thank you?”

“This bloody thing started as a little idea I had after I made you feel like shit. I made you feel unwelcome on this planet.”

“You didn’t  _ actually.  _ It was a misunderstanding.”

“Well, you forgave me and stuck by my side throughout this whole thing. We made it  _ our  _ project and we’ve helped so many people.” Louis leaned into him. “So, thank you.”

Harry wrapped an arm around Louis. “We’re in this together.”

-

“What’s this?” Louis said as Harry handed him a drink.

“A new cocktail I’ve been trying out.”

“I rue the day you started working at the bloody bar.”

Harry just grinned, placing his own drink on the rock as he slipped into the hot spring next to Louis. “Well, we can’t all be paid to carry out our favourite hobby.”

“First of all, the centre is a full time job, nowadays. Far more than a hobby. Secondly… your job is to paint. Don’t pretend like your job is boring and strenuous. Your job is so chilled out that you took a second job.”

Harry shrugged. “You know, I think we’re probably the only two people here who are doing different jobs than we were brought over to do.”

“Kind of flies in the face of the whole point of bringing people over.” Louis smiled, satisfied. “You know what? I think we’ve made our mark here.”

Harry grinned stupidly. “We have. Forever.”

President Aoki tried to insist he named the LGBTQ+ centre after Louis, but Louis was having none of it. Louis uneasily agreed to let them name it after him after he dies, but only because he didn’t plan on doing so anytime soon.

The population of Rumah was growing, and soon, it didn’t feel like an isolated town anymore. It almost felt normal, like Louis’ old life. Like a small city. Babies were being born, human beings that had never stepped foot on Earth. The human race had successfully colonised another planet. 

“I can’t wait for our weekend away,” Harry said with a sigh.

“I can’t wait to see Krista splashing around in the sea.”

“I can’t wait to have sex on the beach.”

“No!” Louis laughed. “Absolutely not.”

“You’re  _ such  _ a spoilsport."

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this, please [reblog the fic post!](https://dinosaursmate.tumblr.com/post/185653545526/breaking-through-the-atmosphere-by-dinosaursmate)


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